Author: Saurabh Garg

Wk 14-26 – Weekly Note

Notes, thoughts, reflections and highlights from the 14th week of 2026.

6 AM.
NOT in Versova ;P

Here’s the note from the week gone by.

I am sipping onto Iced Americano as I write this. I have not put my music yet and I am letting the day come to me, rather than rushing to it. And since I am on the road, my schedule will be all over the place. I want to figure out if I can stick to my morning routine (reading, writing, reflections, check lists etc) while I am on the road. My sense is that if I get 2 hours each morning at a table and a chair, I would be ok. Today is an experiment in that direction. Let’s see.

Edit note. I took about two hours to write this and I am glad to report that I think I have a hang of the day! Must make this into a daily habit!

Another thing about travel is that it forces you to break your patterns. I am used to a hot Americano with butter while I am in India. Here, I cant ask for butter. I mean I can but I know they dont have. Maybe they do. I will try the next time I get a coffee. I am used to a table and a chair with a certain height. I dont have that here. And ofcourse, the unfamiliarity of the route you take, the sights you see and the people you meet. Good. And bad.

Then, while you are travelling, there’s so much context shifting that I am unable to get any work done. I know some people are good with it. You know, digital nomads and all? I wish I was like them. My best work comes in when I am in a routine. In fact, if I had my way, I would live in a new place for a month, spend a few days walking around where I live and then spend the next 3 weeks pushing for some output.

Finally, on travel, the best part is that you leave behind all the things that you dont like and choose things that you do. For example, in India, I avoid walking. Because, well…

On the other hand, when I travel, I can pick a hotel / bnb that’s in a part of the city that’s walkable. Oh, on that, when I travel, I like the idea of getting the acco in the middle of the city. And never on the edges. If I can choose, I will pick a tiny place in the middle than a large one on the outskirts. And the good part of most modern cities is that they offer many many middles.

Ok, this is becoming a travel blog.
Lemme get back to the weekly note.

The last week didnt see a lot of action tbh. It started on a high note (many meetings on Monday, many emails and conversations thru the week) but there wasnt any concrete outcomes. The week was all about activity (and no action / achievement). But that’s ok. Some weeks we do things. Some weeks we dont. As long as we dont lose sight of where we want to reach, all these are cool and part of the process.

So, the track for the day week has to be Bryan Adam’s Cuts Life a Knife. Here.

There’s way too many things that I like about this. Here’s a list in no order…

  • The way its been shot. I would love to do something similar with some artist. Love black and white and play of metal, wood, darkness, silhouettes and all that
  • The track itself. I love it. And the lyrics, uff!
  • The way semi-acoustic sounds sound like. Music to my ears. Lol.

So that.

Lets get to the review.

💭 Highlights, reflections, updates, notes and thoughts from the last week

Last week I made these in an order. This week, I dont have an order.

1/ Pune

On Friday, I went to Pune. I had no reason. Just a feeling that I wanted to go and meet couple of my people.

Unlike other trips where I announce out loud, I didnt tell anyone that I was going to be in Pune. And truth be told, I didnt enjoy this trip to Pune. I dont know why. May be I would’ve liked to meet more people? I dont know.

But, the two people I had to meet, I am glad I could meet them and spend time with them. Each time I meet my people in different cities, I wish I could move all into one place. I know its wishful at best. I know most people wont want to uproot themselves and their lives to be around me. Some may. But most wont. So I need to make peace with that.

2/ A Book on Better Habits

Staying on Pune and Pune people, Aarya has given me a gift. A first draft of a book on building and sustaining habits. Of course there are many books on habits but this one starts where others end. More on this in the next few days.

So, Aarya did it as part of HelioCoach and she used a lot of Claude and I love how shes been able to program it to deliver an effective outcome. I read the first draft of the book on the flight and I like what I read. It needs work but it’s a good first draft for sure. So proud of Lord Aarya.

I need to now find someone who can polish it.
Do you know someone?

And in case you wish to read an early preview, please lemme know.

3/ Apply myself to a problem

I am dying to apply myself to a large problem that leverages my zone of genius and create value for people around me. And the world.

I’ve been trying to find an answer and a solution for this for sometime now but I havent had any brainwaves. I’ve asked my BoD as well but answers havent been forthcoming. May be I need a better board ;P

Or maybe I need to do deeper soul searching?

Thing is, I can find work easy. I am reasonably smart and connected and if I asked some people, they would give me work. It may not be rewarding enough (financially or emotionally) but I know that I can find work. But that wouldnt give me joy. And I would do them as lip service. I mean I will do a great job but I will not be excited about it. Plus, I’ve decided that I want to work on things that are uniquely mine and give me joy and allow me to apply myself with all my might.

So, need to find something. Any brainwaves anyone?

4/ Gratitude

I must say that I am grateful for the life I have.

5/ Pushpa 2

In the flight, I saw about 60% of Pushpa 2.

I had seen Pushpa 1 long ago and I remembered the story vaguely (sandalwood smuggler and all that). And I thought the story was weak AF. But the screenplay was good, the acting and direction was top notch. I think it would’ve been fun to watch on a larger screen.

Also made me aware that you can make good films if you tried ;P

Anyhow, the point is not the film. The point is the lessons I took from this.

One. The film made me realise that Entrepreneurship and Films are same. You work all your life to be able to build something that brings out an impact, you are betting against all odds, you are obsessed (and passionate to the extent of being mad) about what you do and one “lucky” strike can give you disproportionate outcomes!

Two. That I would love to be a modern day Robin Hood. You know, take from the ones who have in excess and give to the ones that need. But then, I need to either become an outlaw. Or make a lot of money.

6/ Money

The financial year closed in March.
And while I’ve spoken about the goods and the bads, I realised that I need to learn more about money.

Parking this here.
No large thoughts.

7/ Misc Things

Not too many come to mind TBH.
Like I said the week was truncated of sorts (two days of trip to Pune and then one day to recuperate and then a long flight yesterday). Some are…

  1. My best thoughts come when I am in motion. I distinctly remember talking to AK about a lot of work things and I was surprised at myself for coming up with those. I must do more of commute chats.
  2. I must get a car. First I need to know where am gonna live.
  3. The US-Israel-Iran situation doesn’t seem to be dying down. I am so keen on exploring Dubai and GCC but I am unable to. I wish I could be that person that could deescalate things!
  4. I continue to be away from Insta. I miss the mindless banter with people there. I must say I do miss some people too. IYKYK.

Ok, onto other things.

🈺 Photos from the past few days

Stopping this from this week onward. In case you want me to restart, lemme know. However, here’s an image…

From the flight yesterday.

🈺 Trackers…

Here’s my trackers.
Tell me what you see.

🈺 Action on LARGE objectives for the year

In this section, I will capture my progress on large objectives for the year. 

In 2026, I plan to do the following three things…

  1. Book2
  2. Human Flag Pole
  3. Save a million dollars

No action in the last week on any of these goals. So, no progress and no update.

This has been the thing for many weeks now. Must change this.

☑️ So, what did I get done last few weeks? And what will I do next 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.

So, this year, I want to track the following…

  1. Health. I will work on sleep, food and movement. Not a good week.
  2. C4E / Work. I want to shortlist some idea that I want to work on. No answer. I have given myself a hard deadline of 30th April 2026. Either I will find an idea or I will work on whatever my people tell me to.
  3. Brand SG / Distribution. No action on this.
  4. People (Family, Friends, Strangers, etc). No action.
  5. Book2. I want to start with this. No action.
  6. Shauk (Music, Films, Poker etc). No action.

🏃🏻‍♂️‍➡️ Health

I added Health as a key section last year. 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.

No action again.
I mean I didnt track or actively think about it.
I want to keep this live cos this makes me think.

🧠 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.

A few things.

  1. Update C4E’s Culture Book. This is still WIP.

I have a suspicion that this list will grow and will become unmanageable in a few weeks. I will find a solution when I get to it. For the time being, here’s a sheet where I track my actions.

Here are the things that I’ve closed previously…

  1. Start a podcast with C and AK. This remains open and will probably get shut. I dont see the excitement in the three of us. 
  2. Storytelling presentation for the session on the 7th March. I missed this. And I will do this in March. Maybe on the 28th or the 29th? I missed this again. I dont think am doing this. So closing and moving on.

🥡 So, one thing that defines the past week?

Blur.

The other words for this year have been: Activity, Movement, Regular (again), Regular, Easy, Journey, Downtime.

—
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. Previous editions:

  • 2026: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 (missed these three), 12, 13

PPS: Please do point typos.

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

Wk 13-26 – Weekly Note

Notes from the 13th week of 2026.

10:30 AM
Starbucks, Versova

I am at my regular Starbucks.
On my non-regular table (the one I sit one has been occupied by a group of young people and I dont want to be around — for I will be distracted with their chatter). And with my regular order of coffee (hot Americano). And without butter. There’s a lot on my mind and this is my opportunity to dump it all.

As always, before I go, here’s the music that am listening to on loop.

This week was about this (Home by The Magnetic Zeroes) and a LOT more about Bob Dylan’s The Times They Are A-Changin from A Complete Unknown.

Thing with Bob is, his music makes you think. Snaps you out of your reverie. Makes you want to take to the streets. And question your existence. Each song is like a battlecry. Each is like a whack on the side of your head. Each a clarion call. Each an opportunity to go do more. Each makes you want to do more with your life.

Oh, Bob!

Anyhow, from this one, my fav lines are…

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won’t come again
And don’t speak too soon
For the wheel’s still in spin
And there’s no tellin’ who
That it’s namin’
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin’

In fact, these lines are up there in my “dream list” of things that I wish I had written. The other one includes The Piano Man and Hotel California. No, I dont want to get in to that Rabbit Hole of writing and all.

Right now, I need to focus on the review and I have a lot to say.

Any how.
Let’s go…

💭 Highlights, reflections, updates, notes and thoughts from the last week

Unlike the last few week, I am trying to do this in some order. I may not be able to explain in words but there is an order this time.

1/ C4E Sunset Club

If you are ever in Versova beach, you must head to C4E Sunset Club. I went there this week.

After ages.
And I loved it.
And I have no shame in saying that I missed it.
Here’s an unedited photo from there.

I even made a mental note for myself. That I will find a way to always live close to a beach.

No, I am not a water person per se (I don’t like to get wet or dirty on the beach) but I love that I can see the expansive sky from there. It makes me feel alive with possibilities. I feel that there’s this journey to nowhere. In fact, growing up, I was always a mountains person (maybe cos I was in Delhi?) and I think this shift in the love for the beach happened after I moved to Mumbai. Now that I am contemplating moving to a different country, I want to be able to have some water body, some ocean, some expansive sky to stare at.

So that.

2/ Self-love 101

In one of my consultations with a FOXO doc, I was made aware of my disdain for self. I may be using a stronger word (or maybe, its milder) but in my personality, there is an apparent and visible lack of self love. And I’ve been told to work on it to fix it. Funny cos even Kunal, without any provocation brought this up.

So if two different people, each without a common connection can see that I have a problem with self-love, I better listen to them. And work on it. After all, acknowledging the problem is the first step.

But then when I read about the way to fix it, my science-first brain was unable to fathom the tools and methods and practices that I need to engage with to get better. And mind you, these are coming from folks who’ve spent decades in research on the human mind and human condition. And despite this mountain of scientific evidence, I am unable to bring myself to work on it.

So that.

But, but, but… I will work on it.
After all, when two unrelated, smart and well read people tell me the same thing, I take them serious. So, over the next few updates you will see me talking about my experiments with self-love.

3/ Rage-bait

Staying on my personality quirks, the next thing is rage-bait.

On wikipedia, it is defined as…

…rage-baiting (also ragebaiting, rage-farming, or rage-seeding) is the manipulative tactic of eliciting outrage with the goal of increasing internet traffic, online engagement, and revenue, as well as attracting new subscribers, followers, or supporters. This manipulation occurs through offensive or inflammatory headlines, memes, tropes, or comments that provoke users to respond in kind.

So, one of the smartest young people I know (I wish I could work with them at some point in time), told me that when I talk, I ragebait.

When I was told this, my first instinct was to reject it. After all, rage-baiting is the lowest form of human interaction and I would rather become a hermit than relying on rage-baiting to get to where I want to be.

But since this person is smart, I took a beat.
Thought about it.
And while I was unable to see any example of me rage-baiting, I decided that I will ask people around and talk to them. So here we are. If you read this and you know me, do you think I rage-bait?

I will tell you what I know for sure…

  1. I know that my opinions and life choices and decisions are not per norms of the world we live in.
  2. I know that I am a big fan of what we call, “toxic positivity”. The world takes it as negative. I dont. I think if in this one life we dont experience everything, what’s the point? And if we dont push ourselves, who will? And if not now, when?
  3. I know that I am not a believer in the idea of work-life balance. Rather, I love the idea of work-life harmony. I also like Naval’s idea of working like a lion (see this and this).
  4. I can be passionate when I speak. This means I tend to lean into my conversations. And some people find it rude and off-putting.
  5. I have been told that I am often dismissive of people who dont believe in my world-view. I dont agree. But I have been told this often and thus I am aware.

I am sure there are more things that make my personality a bit extreme, a bit negative. But among all things that I know (or dont know), I dont want to be the one rage-baiting anyone.

So, if you think I rage-bait, PLEASE let me know and I will work to fix it.

4/ Poker

The week gone by, I played poker.
After a while.
And it was good.
I had fun!

I didnt really play well (in case you are curious, I didnt lose) but I did enjoy being on the table. The dream of being a professional poker player was rekindled. I even made a video about it. No, it was not the best and I want to do more nuanced conversation on Poker. Let’s see when.

But, the point is, I played.
And I had fun.
I need to find a way to slip it in, in my routine.
And no, I dont enjoy online games. I love the idea of being on the table.

Lets see when I get to play next.

5/ sgWasHere.com is live!

Over the last week, I used Claude to bring sgWasHere.com to life.

I plan to make that my writing hub.
And seek one or two large projects each year.
These projects must allow me to meet great people doing grand things.

These could be in shape of a ghostwritten biography, a long-form article, a speech, a note or something. Over the next few weeks, I will try to market this and get feedback. And once I get the conviction, will put this out on the internet.

Please do see the website and lemme know what you think.

PS: To be honest, I want to get sgWrites.com or something but I didnt want to wait and wanted to optimise the domains I had. sgWasHere.com sounded nice to me and I went ahead. And anyhow I’ve had the domain since I saw Brooks Was Here.

6/ Podcast with SheR

Of all the friends I’ve made on Internet, Seena and Reyana would be up there!

The two of them run SheR, a communication agency focused sharply on helping brands work on their community efforts. Their website is WIP but you must check their LinkedIn posts. They are onto something really interesting and I am in awe of their ability to have this laser-sharp focus.

The other day, they invited me on their podcast to talk about my thoughts on community. I went and spoke. I dont know if I made sense but I had a lot of fun. They made me think a lot and the things that I spoke with them sparked lot of ideas.

I am gonna take the transcript from that podcast and turn that into my 101 for community building.

PS: This was after a while when I was doing a gyaan session (on a podcast) and I must say, I loved it.

PPS: Must push more for more podcast conversations.

7/ Money Matters

I was talking to AK the other day and I realised that I suck at understanding of money. I make some. I lose some. And I save some. But I am unable to tame it.

I’ve read all books that you can imagine – Rich Dad, Poor Dad, Morgan Housel, Vishal Khandelwal and more. And yet I am unable to tame it. I think I don’t value it enough and like all good things that you don’t value, you lose them. I know that till I learn how to tame it, I will (shall?) remain a slave.

And no, I dont have action points here. I know I need to fix my relationship with money. I need to understand money. I know my friends are very good with it. Just that I dont know what to do. Maybe I will use some AI LLM to help me with it.

Any ideas?

PS: No, I don’t have a problem in making money. I make enough to live a middle-class life and not rent my time. Just that I am unable to have it work for me.

8/ Young People

C4E needs to hire a project manager. And to help them, I decided to be the first port of call. So, I met a few young people. And I must say, it was good. Makes you realise where you are in life.

Also, it was after a while that I was meeting people. And while the average quality of folks I am meeting has gone down, one or two were really good. Its sad that it wont work out with them cos most of them are stuck to being in their hometowns, are fixated on not making C4E their priority and in one case, C4E wont be able to afford them.

Must find a way to meet more people.

9/ Work

The month of March is coming to an end. And I had given myself this period (Q1, 2026) to figure out where I applied myself to. And I dont have a clue. There are many explorations, many ideas, but nothing is concrete.

The only pattern that seems to be emerging is that I dont want to be in India. I dont have the resources or the plan to be out. But I will be deliberate about it.

Let’s see.

10/ Misc Things

This has things that I am thinking about but I want to add them to one large list with one line each.

  1. Boman Irani Sir’s Competition. At Spiral Bound, Boman Sir is running a screenplay competition. Its been more than a month that he announced it and I have not moved a needle on it. They are write that time flies!
  2. Miss plays, pickle and Poo.
  3. BKK. In the month of April, I will spend 10 odd days in Bangkok. I am with some folks from C4E. And then I am with some friends from MDI. I typically dont get excited about travel but this trip, I am looking forward to!
  4. I will use a Nokia phone for all of April. I will carry my iPhone but I will use it as less as I can. I will carry cash, I will hand carry my groceries, I will use ricks in a regular manner. When I am in BKK, I will be with someone or the other and I will lean on to them. Let’s see how it goes.
  5. At home, things are not the best. Will figure.
  6. Stumbled onto Mehdi Hasan and his genius and how he speaks. A big fan. See this tribute from him, to his father. You will hopefully hear more from him.
  7. Staying at the how to speak well, saw this video of the lecture by Prof Patrick Winston and WOW! You must see this.
  8. AI. No mention of AI in this post at all! Probably a rare one where I’ve not used these two words. And thus I had to put the keyword.
  9. Fitness. I increasingly find myself thinking about and taking no action about my fitness.
  10. I want to do a clone of NPR’s Tiny Desk. Come on, universe!
  11. Promises – People. I had written this in my notes but I forgot what this was about. We shall never know.

Phew!

🈺 Photos from the past few days

Here are some.

I think this is the last week when I share this. Unless something grand happens in the next 7 days.

🈺 Trackers…

Back with the trackers. Not perfect. Not 100% there. But back. Tell me what you see…

Clearly, I’ve been all over the place and I need to pull my socks.

Same as the digital one. I started using this one cos I wanted to rely less on the laptop and the phone once I woke up. Clearly that’s not happening.

🈺 Action on LARGE objectives for the year

In this section, I will capture my progress on large objectives for the year. 

In 2026, I plan to do the following three things…

  1. Book2
  2. Human Flag Pole
  3. Save a million dollars

No action in the last week on any of these goals. So, no progress and no update.

☑️ So, what did I get done last few weeks? And what will I do next 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.

So, this year, I want to track the following…

  1. Health. I will work on sleep, food and movement. As you see from the notes above, I havent been able to make any progress.
  2. C4E / Work. I want to shortlist some idea that I want to work on. I dont know what would I do. But I have started to move in some direction.
  3. Brand SG / Distribution. No action on this. If you count the SheR podcast and daily live, maybe yes!
  4. People (Family, Friends, Strangers, etc). No action.
  5. Book2. I want to start with this. No action.
  6. Shauk (Music, Films, Poker etc). Played poker 🙂

🏃🏻‍♂️‍➡️ Health

I added Health as a key section last year. 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.

No action again.
I mean I didnt track or actively think about it.
I want to keep this live cos this makes me think.

🧠 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.

A few things.

  1. Update C4E’s Culture Book. This is still WIP.

I have a suspicion that this list will grow and will become unmanageable in a few weeks. I will find a solution when I get to it. For the time being, here’s a sheet where I track my actions.

Here are the things that I’ve closed previously…

  1. Start a podcast with C and AK. This remains open and will probably get shut. I dont see the excitement in the three of us. 
  2. Storytelling presentation for the session on the 7th March. I missed this. And I will do this in March. Maybe on the 28th or the 29th? I missed this again. I dont think am doing this. So closing and moving on.

🥡 So, one thing that defines the past week?

Activity.
Not action.
YKIYK.

The other words for this year have been: Movement, Regular (again), Regular, Easy, Journey, Downtime.

—
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. Previous editions:

  • 2026: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 (missed these three), 12

PPS: Please do point typos.

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

Wk 12-26 – Weekly Notes

Notes from weeks 9, 10, 11 and 12 of 2026.

I am back!
After exactly a month.
The last post here was on the 22nd of Feb. And in the last 4 weeks, a lot has happened. I’ve travelled to Dubai, Delhi, KL, Singapore. There is a war in the Middle East. Some inkling of the idea (in terms of what I want to do) seems to be taking shape. And as always, a lot of thoughts and observations. Lets see how many of those can I capture here.

But then I havent written a lot lately and I think I the writing muscle needs some sort of a booster. Maybe this post is that.

Lets go.

Wait, the track of the week is this.

I used to hear this track a lot when I was younger. And I had forgotten about it. And then I meet a friend and he reminded me of it. And I love it. I can not stop grooving to it!

PS: Here’s a post about the friend. And a photo I took.

Any how.
Let’s go…

💭 Highlights, reflections, updates, notes and thoughts from the last few weeks

As always, these are not in any order.

1/ The world becomes kinder when you’re seen as a success

If there is one lesson that I’ve learnt in the last 15 days, it is this – the world will reward you more if it sees you as successful.

Nothing surprising about it.
The entire theory of evolution is about natural selection of the strongest. The Selfish Gene says that whatever has the highest odds of propagating, will survive. Success is the independent barometer reading of your value to the world. And the world will reward the ones that they see are already successful. We see this play out a lot around us beyond the books and in real life.

Founders with IIT-IIM pedigrees get funded more. The success indicator is the school they went to. Actors that do well tend to get offered better films. And apparently in Dubai, if you dont have a Rolex on your wrist, you are not allowed inside certain places. The car your drive, the place you live at, the clubs you have the memberships to indicate a lot about your success.

And that begets you more opportunities!

So, its imperative that you are a success if you want to deliver on your destiny. I’ve been the kinds to never chase the worldly markers of success. But I am learning it the hard way that I must. And it will need a large change in my personality to do this. Let’s see if I can choose this discomfort as I think about the next things in life.

And like that maxim goes that its expensive to be poor, there’s another that I want to tattoo on my backside – you’re a failure if you dont succeed.

Lol!
Maybe need to come up with better ones.

2/ The concept of Karma is theoretical at best

The other thing I learnt while I was on the road is that Karma is overrated. It’s the softer pillar that you lean on to tell yourself that you are doing good and as a result, good will happen to you.

Same as religion but milder.

With religion, the idea was to create some guidelines that would serve the rulers and create some semblance of order with those doctrines. And then with time it became degenerated (or maybe evolved) as a way to control people and wield power.

With religion, the rules of conduct are set by old books and their keepers. With karma, you set the rules, you want to be good, hoping the good will circle back.

With Karma, you dont serve one person’s agenda but you limit yourself. And then you stay in the boundaries. However, IRL, I’ve seen boundaries diminish with such ease that I am often left wondering, were there any in the first place.

So that.
Wont write more.
I am hoping that my readers are smart!

3/ Life in other countries is very relaxed…

…if you can do you own dishes and clean your clothes.

Jokes apart, I think the day to day life is a tad better out of India.

I travelled to three countries and lived with friends for more nights than I slept at hotels. And that means I could see life up close. And I realised that daily friction of living is so less in other countries that I am left wondering, why is our life in India so screwed.

The landlords dont bother you if 5 people come in.
The neighbors are not pesky.
You dont fight over petty things with folks around you.
The strangers are generally helpful.
No one is cutting queues.
You are offered space.
There is overt politeness.
Everyone seems to be helping each other.
The two countries that I spent most of my time in, there was no large display of religious disharmony (one is an extremist nation and the other has very hard rules against such).

Of course its expensive to get the army of domestic helps that we are so used to in India. So if you can afford, it would be even better. If you can’t afford, you ought to find your balance. But am more convinced that one must not live in India!

PS: If you do choose to live out of the country, you also have the option of finding your kinds (other Indians) or you can learn to chat with folks from other nationalities and expand your knowledge. I specifically write about this because I saw a lot of my Indian friends make friends with other Indians!

4/ Dar ke aage jeet hai!

Read this “jeet” as…

making cold calls,
making small talk,
taking shots beyond your comfort zone,
sales
etc.

Most people I know are unable to do these because, well, fear.

I am the same.
I have a hard time initiating a conversation with someone. I have a very terrible self-image. To a point that Kunal shared some notes and ideas on how to fix it (I tried but I havent been able to fix). But I do know that folks that are able to overcome their dar are indeed great!

And I I have to say this, in bold.
That if I could turn back time and re-learn life from scratch, I would learn the art of sales. Really. I just dont know how to sell. I often sell myself short. Or I push myself way too much.

5/ Claude Code

I am claudemaxxing for last two three days and I love it.
I have this spring in my step.
I am giddy with possibilities.
I can build up these worlds that I live in.
I love the idea of being able to control my future and do larger things.
And I know I am like a child – I am not sure of the risks and pitfalls and everything looks full of hope. So that!

Oh, with Claude, my friends and I have tried to work on a nutrition supplementation app, a screenwriting support tool and I dont know what all! I know none of these are production quality, none of these have users but as they say, hope floats. I will keep updating here.

Here’s an update from Sunday evening…

6/ The return of Travis

This was one of the biggest news of the tech world in the last few days. And no, I am not untouched by it. I have conflicting thoughts on Travis. On one side, he built a company and took it global and created impact. And on the other, he’s not a nice person. So that.

Anyhow.

Do read Travis on Atoms.
And Om on Travis on Atoms.
While you are on Om, also read Om’s piece on storytelling and Symbolic Capitalism. This is something that I want to push at C4E!

7/ Stripe Press

Spotted Rohit’s piece on Stripe Press.

I have to start a Stripe Press clone! I’ve been thinking about it for too long. And if my latest manifesto (to spread joy while i make money) is to be believed, I would love to do something in the publishing space. I do have a few friends in this space. There is Prak. Just that I havent had the courage to do that. Plus the money situation in the publishing business sucks. So that.

Lets see what I end up doing.

And while we are on Stripe, here’s advice from Patrick to folks who are between 10 and 20. Read. And truth be told, relevant to even people my age!

8/ Mobile free in April. Can I?

I want to spend the whole of April without a smart phone. Is it possible?

Especially when I plan to be in a different country for a few days. Let’s see. I mean I can use my smart phone dumb (assistive mode) and live with it.

I dont know.
Time shall tell.

But today, on Sunday the 22nd, I plan to not use my Smart phone.
I am carrying a feature phone.
Let’s see how that goes.

You may also want to see this daily YT live that I do…

9/ Lessons from last few days

I will make a linkedin post on this but I want the content to have originated here.

Like I said, the last few weeks have been interesting. I’ve been about town and met people (old and new) and learnt many lessons.

I wanted to capture all those even though its humanly impossible to do a good job, even with notetakers and all that. So, here’s one line lesson from some folks I met. And like in most one-line pieces, a lot of context and nuance will get lost.

Anyhow.
In no order, let’s go…

Aastha taught me how to think big. And not give up. And be at it. In fact, Aastha has to be one of the top 10 people I’ve met and been able to befriend in the last 5 years.

Pritam taught me that a true general will never leave till he wins. And if he is forced to, he will not leave without his team. Pritam is also a top-10 person.

Bux and Puspesh taught me in different words that the market needs to validate the idea by paying money for it. The validation of ideas is NOT in research or in reports.

Puspesh also taught me how you find your space in this world. And even if you choose to be stubborn about what you want to do and how you want to do, the world will often give you what you seek.

Sharan taught me that consistency can be easy. Thing is, this has been my Achilles Heel. I am not consistent and I want to learn more from Sharan.

Aanchal taught me how is it to be focussed and driven and yet have a good time. She and I share a common last name and I want to be better friends with her.

Mahesh Sir taught me how to build and support a village. And how to put your money where your mouth is!

Swathi taught me what courage could look like, especially in the face of battles on all fronts – work, personal, health, etc etc.

Ajeet Sir taught me how to build networks and bring people together. And be compelling when its the time to sell.

Bhaargav taught me how is it to acknowledge that you were on a wrong path. And then course correct. And keep at it.

Ankesh taught me yet again that I need to be fearless. And he also taught me that it’s ok to acknowledge that you may not know everything. Also, Ankesh is another top-10 person.

Krishna taught me how to change my opinion and look beyond things that I am convinced about.

Rohit taught me young hustle. And dream. As I write this, the boy from a tiny village (literal village) is in SFO and building his dream.

Ayush is another young hustler and he taught me how to focus.

Varoon taught me grace. On this one, I will have to give context. He’s been a client on two projects – on one, we did a kickass job and on the other, he fired us. And yet he remains accessible and helpful and polite and graceful.

Aoenha taught me how to be a bossperson and chase an idea that no one can even fathom and do it with so much passion and energy that the world has to line up and give you what you seek.

Samriddh taught me three things on my last meeting. I will only talk about one. To not give a fuck. While I hear this from many many people, I am not left inspired. In Samriddh’s case, his journey has been nothing short of incredible.

Phew!

ISTG, there are more.
But I am tired of writing and remembering.
I need a better system ;P

10/ $50 from NeoSapien

This honest review of NeoSapien Neo 1 that I wrote a few months ago seems to be ranking high on SEO. And I have made some 50 dollars thru it! I love free Internet money!

In case any of you has any consumer tech products that you want me to review, am here! Lol!

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🈺 Photos from the past few days

Here are some.

Not too many. Especially cos I was not in India. And I’ve been thinking about shutting this anyway. So may be, from next week on, I will shut this.

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🈺 Trackers…

I dont have trackers.
I was unable to track while I was on the road.
No one to blame.
So skipping these for this update.

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🈺 Action on LARGE objectives for the year

In this section, I will capture my progress on large objectives for the year. 

In 2026, I plan to do the following three things…

  1. Book2
  2. Human Flag Pole
  3. Save a million dollars

No action in the last week on any of these goals. I do have a vague thought on what I want to do in terms of work. But that doesn’t count on these at this time.

So, no progress and no update.

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☑️ So, what did I get done last few weeks? And what will I do next 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.

Like last section, no update over the last few weeks. Just been on the road and terribly busy with it.

So, this year, I want to track the following…

  1. Health. I will work on sleep, food and movement. 
  2. C4E / Work. I want to shortlist some idea that I want to work on. 
  3. Brand SG / Distribution. No action on this. I remain away from social media. 
  4. People (Family, Friends, Strangers, etc).
  5. Book2. I want to start with this. 
  6. Shauk (Music, Films, Poker etc).

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🏃🏻‍♂️‍➡️ Health

I added Health as a key section last year. 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.

No action again. I mean I didnt track or actively think about it.

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🧠 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.

A few things.

  1. Start a podcast with C and AK. This remains open and will probably get shut. I dont see the excitement in the three of us. Closing this. Couldnt make progress.
  2. Update C4E’s Culture Book. This is still WIP.
  3. Storytelling presentation for the session on the 7th March. I missed this. And I will do this in March. Maybe on the 28th or the 29th? I missed this again. I dont think am doing this. So closing and moving on.

These few come to mind as I speak.
I have a suspicion that this will grow and will become unmanageable in a few weeks. I will find a solution when I get to it. For the time being, here’s a sheet where I track my actions.

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🥡 So, one thing that defines the past week?

Movement.
And that’s why I was not that active on socials!

The other words for this year have been: Regular (again), Regular, Easy, Journey, Downtime.

—
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. Previous editions:

  • 2026: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 (missed these three).

PPS: Please do point typos.

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

Wk 08-26 – Weekly Notes

Notes, thoughts, ideas and links from Week #8, 2026

Morning.
I am perched at the community table at my local Starbucks. And I have my headphones on and I am writing this. As always in parts.

Oh, as I write this part (at around 11 AM), I dont have the headphones and and AK is standing behind me.

And as I write this (at around 10 PM), am at the Starbucks and staring at a wall.

This has been one of the most “regular” weeks where I did regular things. For most days, I was up and about between 6 and 8, and then I came to this Starbucks where I am at, and then ate home made lunch, and then slept, and then done some work. And I thought about a lot of things and been thinking about things and avoiding things. And of course, I have a lot to talk about.

So, lets get with it.

Oh, the song of the week is this.

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Ok, let’s go ahead with the review.

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💭 Highlights, reflections, updates, notes and thoughts from Week 8, 2026

As always, these are not in any order.

1/ What did I change you mind on, in the last week?

This one is thanks to Krishna.

For all the differences and frustrations I have with him, he remains one of my closest people. He makes me think, helps me when I need anything and is around, in general all the time. Plus most of my conversations with him are not about mundane life things (you know, school and clothes and all that). Rather about where we could be and all that.

This past week, he and I were talking about certain someone, lets call this person A, and he pointed to me that my opinion about him are biased and I must not give him as much attention.

But then, I have my reasons for being such a fan of him. I’ve seen him grow from being a young boy to a man he is, I’ve seen him hustle thru college, startups, relationships and life. I’ve seen him do things that I can not even dream about.

But Krishna pointed at anecdotes and examples of inconsistency. And then he threw in weight of his experiences and gave me specific data points that made me rethink my perspective. And by the end of it, epiphany dawned onto me and I was able to change my opinion.

I am glad that I continue to have strong opinions loosely held. And no, I am not kaan ka kachcha. So, a win!

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2/ SG’s Performance Mode

I was talking to AD about something and then I said, lets record it so that we’d have notes and all.

And then he said something interesting. He said that moment I have a camera on, I get into the “performance mode”. As if I am talking to an audience and measuring my words. And that doesn’t bring out the real, unfiltered me!

On one side I wanted to deny it and refuse. I know that I dont get into one.

On the other, I dont want to say no to AD’s third-party opinion about me. Even Pradeep mentioned that he felt that I am in performance mode when I speak with him.

And I know that I dont want to ever be into a performance mode. For me, my authenticity and persona are the most critical. I will never ever put a face or a facade. But if AD’s pointing it, and Pradeep is validating it, I want to fix it. More so because in the times to come, I plan to be lot more vocal and visible and all that.

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3/ Burn The Paper

In some cultures, they say that if you want to forget about something, you should write on a piece of paper and burn it. This is a part of our rituals that we get thru to mourn over things that we dont want to lose.

Ofc, despite these elaborate rituals and processes and mournings, people dont get over things.

In my case, I am the opposite. I get over things fast. I tend to not hold grudges. But I ensure that I dont get into a relationship / transaction with people who I feel have wronged me. You know, I tear their page. I panna faaado them. Thank you, Nath Saab for the lesson.

I also forget about and get over things once I write about those on this blog (or on my Roam and lately on my YT live).

For example, last week I talked about Chalta Purza. Till I reviewed the last week’s notes, I had no recollection that I even wrote about it. In fact, when I “wander” on my notes and on my blog, I often discover things that I would’ve liked to remember but I have since forgotten. Another case in point, Riya and another person asked me about who I talked about in the last week’s blog and ISTG I dont recall who I wrote about.

On one side, this is a good thing – I dont fret over things that most people will ruminate over, for days and weeks. Plus, this blog, journaling has become my emotional anchor.

And on the other, its not so good thing – I dont let my emotions process. I dont grieve. I dont celebrate. I dont let my environment shape me as much as I would want it to.

So, maybe, I will try and find a compromise. May be I will use AI and all that to help me remember things and take lessons from and build myself on top of. May be I will double down on my personality and ensure that I become even more immovable.

What do you think?

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4/ Paddling to loved ones

Now that I have chosen to live and communicate without filters, I have started to see things that I otherwise missed.

Last week was epiphany that people use me. This week, I have had a couple of incidents where MY people are paddling things to me.

These are MY people. The ones I would kill for. The ones I respect. The ones I’ve grown up with.

Lemme talk about a story. I remember long ago, one of my friends from MDI had tried to sell a gold coin MLM scheme to me. I walked away from it but it left an indelible impression on me. That attempt to sell to me is probably why I am not comfortable selling to friends and family.

But then when I read about how the world works, I find that most people sell to their loved ones, their connections, their alum. And I find that weird. Supporting your friends, voluntarily, is ok. But using them to build your life? Unacceptable. I’ve always been the kinds to not charge anything from my friends and family. In fact, if anything I’ve tried to go out of my way to help them. And if someone’s tried to sell to me, I’ve been ok to accept their need (and may be greed) and if I could afford, buy from them.

So when this week, when I saw at least two examples where my people tried to sell to me, I could recognise the pattern and realised that may be that’s the way of the world and I am not meant to operate here?

Thoughts?

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5/ SongKran for C4E

I think SongKran is one of THE best experiences that us humans have invented. Each person must experience it at least once in our lives.

I wanted to have as many of my people experience it. And I offered everyone at C4E that I could take them there. I was willing to pay for it. But after a quick poll, I realised that my people weren’t as excited about it as I was.

Which is ok.

So this becomes one more addition to the long list of things that I’ve wanted to do for my people but I havent been able to.

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6/ FOMO with AI

I am falling behind.

That’s it.
That’s the emotion.
I said it.

Before I launch into a rant, lemme get something out of the way. I am not afraid. I am not scared. I am not worried about a “job loss”. I will survive that. I am a cockroach. My worry is my shot at greatness. My ambition of being the richest man in the world. My impact. And no, not cos I want to leave behind some legacy.

So, I have this overwhelming FOMO about the AI revolution transforming the world. And I am being a passive observer as the world rushes past me. I belong to action. I am for doing things. I am built for motion. Movement defines me. I want to move things.

And yet, am twaddling thumbs and merely nodding at other people.

The funny thing is that I can spot patterns from previous tectonic shifts and my inability to participate in those. When the world shifted to crypto (and then to web3), I had zero participation. I am maximalist and HODLer (if I had any coins, I wont sell those) and yet I dont have no money/investments/assets.

And if I were to go back even more, I was unable to capitalize on the social media boom. Before that I was unable to participate in the software boom.

And more recently, I failed at learning how to use Vercel, Cursor, Claude etc. Heck I couldnt even install clawdbot! Plus I am not sure if I can learn coding at this age.

So yeah. Big FOMO. I must do something about it!

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7/ PIMA session for the world

So, Sajith Pai has this concept of PIMA. See this. And ever since I heard about it, I’ve wanted to get a PIMA team for myself. More so in this day and age.

And thanks to Pradeep and Aarya, I have finally found some semblance of structure.

We have a WA group where we share links and lessons with each other. And then we read it at our time. And then each Thursday, we sit together to jam on what we read. And how it applies to our lives. And how can we leverage that.

No, we dont get into any specific instructional workshop or workalongs. We keep it like an edutainment piece and jam on it from a more philosophy lens. For example, on the last week’s call, we talked about…

  • how SAAS is not dying (but distribution is getting harder)
  • how the brain is overloaded (and not lazy)
  • how you can build taste

And it was probably the best 30-45 mins session!

So, encouraged by that, I want to open my PIMA calls to others.

Here’s a place where you can put your name in case you want to participate. And then either Aarya or I will get back to you.

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8/ Misc notes that are worth capturing

Here are some that I want to capture here.

  1. I am thinking a lot about my personal brand. Though I dont have a lot of action. One sub-action is that I need to write more.
  2. I have been thinking about focus and deliberate work. Again, no large thoughts. And while we are on focus as a subject, here’s Dandapani on Focus. Here.
  3. Anu’s recent essay on Stability. Link. For a change, I dont agree with Anu. She’s no doubt one of my favorite internet writers and each time she writes, I read the piece a few times till I internalize it. And then challenge my thinking. However, I dont agree to a lot of things shes said in this one but it’s worth a read for sure. I wish I knew her to be able to debate with her and get clarity in my thinking.
  4. Dan’s video on The Future Of Work (& The New High-Income Skill Stack). Link. In words of Pradeep, “[Dan] is talking about a shift from the creator economy to the meaning economy where people will increasingly pay for perspective, opinion, and curation rather than just labor or output. He talks about skills needed to provide this meaning – Agency, Taste, Perspective, Persuasion, and using AI tools.”
  5. Naval released a new podcast on AI. Link. Yet to consume. But I do love how it calls it “A Motorcycle for the Mind”
  6. Made a spreadsheet of all the LLM accounts, logins and all. Across 6 LLMs, I have like 18 accounts. And a lot of those are paid. I also had decided that I would name my LLMs but I havent had the time to.
  7. Boman sir has announced a contest for his students. I want to send an entry to it. I have an idea. I will work on it as part of my Guru Dakshina to him for teaching me so much about writing in the COVID-19 lockdown.
  8. Saw a play on Rashmirathi. This one by IDEA. Realised how much I love theatre. And I want to see more of it. And no, I dont like grand performances with elaborate sets. I want intimate ones where you can feel the breath of the actors and the texture of what’s happening behind the scenes.
  9. This post by Seth Godin on freelancing is worth it’s weight in gold. Do read.
  10. Saw a very interestingn hardware company – Antimattr. And their first product, a wearable. Do check it out.
  11. Read about Allostatic Load. See this.
  12. Read more about Bayes’ Theorem. This is one of those things that rule the world in plain sight and as someone who wants to be impactful, this is a critical one.
  13. Saw this tool that gives you meta data about how you use WA. See this by Nikunj. I used it and it made the following chart for my use of WA.
Who would have thought that I was more active in the last 45 days of the month when I was on the road!

Needless to say, I love data!

And with that, I will end this week’s notes.

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🈺 Photos from Week 8

Here are some.
Again, not too many.
I must take more photos. Taking a note to self.

And maybe I will stop sharing this section if I am able to write more about photos that I click.

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🈺 Trackers from Week 8

This week on, I started with a weekly tracker.
To be able to see trends.
Before I get to those, here are the highlights…

  1. Screentime on mobile phone is down to 5 hours. Took a lot of effort. I think getting it to 30 minutes is not possible in this day and age. May be I will aim for sub one-hour.
  2. Played lesser pickle. And I see my pickle sessions dropping in the coming weeks. I need to find new players. This means I will have to socalise. And this mean I will have to put in superhuman effort. Sigh.
  3. I need to add some fitness regimen. This has been on my lists forever.
  4. No action on words.

What do you see?

And here’s the tracker (here, no access)…

The tracker for the week of 22 Feb.

The amber ones are where I did bad compared to the previous week. The green ones are where I got better. With time, I will evolve this tracker to present a more solid picture of how I am doing.

Also, I maintain a daily pen and paper tracker. Here…

Please excuse the bad photo.

While I love the pen and paper, at some point in time I will move to a purely digital one. I want to be travelling a LOT more and thus the need for a digital life.

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🈺 Action on LARGE objectives for the year

In this section, I will capture my progress on large objectives for the year. 

In 2026, I plan to do the following three things…

  1. Book2
  2. Human Flag Pole
  3. Save a million dollars

No action in the last week on any of these goals. I had wanted to build a system but I was unable to. This will become my number 1 task over the next few days. Coupled with my use of AI to seek help and save time, I may be able to do. Will keep posted.

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☑️ So, what did I get done last week? And what will I do next 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.

This year, I want to track the following…

  1. Health. I will work on sleep, food and movement. Last week the highlight is that I had a green recovery for 7 days on a trot!
  2. C4E / Work. I want to shortlist some idea that I want to work on. I am still not there.
  3. Brand SG / Distribution. No action on this. I remain away from social media. Dying to get back. I think I am missing out a lot on by not being on X.
  4. People (Family, Friends, Strangers, etc). No action.
  5. Book2. I want to start with this. Lol!
  6. Shauk (Music, Films, Poker etc). No action.

Made comments in italics. Do read and give inputs.

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🏃🏻‍♂️‍➡️ Health

I added Health as a key section last year. 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.

Like the last few weeks, no action. I did play pickle four times this week, if that counts. And my daily health updates WA Channel is live!

Plus like I said, I had 7 ays of Green recovery. See this…

I think this is the first 7-day green streak for me!

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🧠 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.

A few things.

  1. Start a podcast with C and AK. This remains open and will probably get shut. I dont see the excitement in the three of us. Closing this. Couldnt make progress.
  2. Update C4E’s Culture Book. This is still WIP.
  3. Storytelling presentation for the session on the 7th March. WIP.

These few come to mind as I speak. I have a suspicion that this will grow and will become unmanageable in a few weeks. I will find a solution when I get to it. For the time being, here’s a sheet where I track my actions.

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🥡 So, one thing that defines the past week?

Regular.

Again.

The other words for this year have been: Regular, Easy, Journey, Downtime.

—
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. Previous editions:

  • 2026: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

PPS: Please do point typos.

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

Wk 07-26 – Weekly Notes

Morning!
I am at my favorite regular Starbucks.
Perched on a corner table (not on the community table for a change), a buttered coffee in my hand, lingering pain in my back, knee, ankles and I dont know where all and a lot of thoughts.

So, I played pickle yesterday (the third session of the week; yay!) and it was not the best.

I didn’t even get a drop of sweat. The weather was not really cold. It must have been 28. I saw AK and Prak sweating like they were in some furnace.

The game was also not the best. I mean I won all the matches I played (I am better than the ones I play with) and I could see that if I played with the folks on court next to mine, I would not win a single point.

And for some reason I was ticked. I dont know what it was. I cant pinpoint it. And I hate it. And I carried that thru the night. Was pissed. Ate crap. And then as I type this (10:01 am, 14th Feb), I am not in the best of my moods. And I dont know what to do to snap out of the mood.

The only saving grace is that this has happened after many many days (I saw my tracker and at least in the month of Feb, all I have is good days, 1s. Not even 0). So that.

Maybe this free-writing will help? May be I need to find a way to hit some punching bags. Maybe I need to get back to twitter ;P

Anyhow. Lets see where I go from here.

Edit: 6 PM on the 14th. Moods significantly better!

Edit: 8 AM on the 15th. As of editing this, I played on Saturday also. So 4 days in a week.

The track of the week is Prana’s mashup of A Thousand Years and Lag Ja Gale. Here. I love the lines, pass aaiye…

Now, with that out of the way, here’s the weekly review.

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💭 Highlights, reflections, updates, notes and thoughts from Week 7, 2026

As always, these are not in any order.

1/ Chalta Purza

This has to be the highlight of the week!

I met Bhanu for a lunch and among other things he told me that I am a Chalta Purza. This is the second best thing someone has told me about me. The best is Cockroach (thank you, Vanita).

Per Bhanu, a Chalta Purza is like a cog that can fit into any machine and make the machine go like the fastest rocket to space on the shortest path possible. In other words, Jack of all trades. And ofc the need for these Jacks is a lot more in this day and age.

Ok, I dint do a good job explaining this. I used chat GPT and it said (edited for brevity)…

“Chalta purza” in everyday Hindi means:

A smooth operator. Someone street-smart, well-connected, fast-moving, and able to “get things done.”

In management speak, depending on tone, it can translate into different professional archetypes:

1️⃣ The Positive Framing

Operationally agile, network-leveraged executor

Traits:

  • Strong informal influence networks
  • High execution velocity
  • Navigates bureaucracy efficiently
  • Understands power structures
  • Knows who to call and when

In org language:

  • “Cross-functional catalyst”
  • “High-agency operator”
  • “Enterprise connector”
  • “Execution-focused stakeholder manager”

In startup language:

  • “Zero-to-one hustler”
  • “Gets shit done without waiting for permission”

2️⃣ The Neutral/Realistic Framing

Politically intelligent operator

Traits:

  • Reads room dynamics well
  • Builds strategic alliances
  • Influences without formal authority
  • Knows where decisions actually get made

Often high in:

  • Social capital
  • Informal power
  • Tactical persuasion

3️⃣ The Slightly Negative Version

Politically opportunistic fixer

Traits:

  • May bend processes
  • May prioritize access over systems
  • Relationship-heavy, process-light
  • Can bypass governance

Corporate translation:

  • “High politics, low process”
  • “Influence-driven operator”
  • “Outcome-focused, compliance-optional”

The Clean Executive Definition

If you wanted to put it on a performance review:

“An informal power broker who accelerates outcomes through networks, influence, and execution agility.”

In One Line

Chalta purza = High-agency, politically intelligent operator who can move systems.

So that. High-agency, politically intelligent operator. Lol!

And, two things…

a/ my definition and understanding was incorrect.

b/ I love And I think thats like SPOT on!

Brings me to the next point.

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2/ Handwriting Analysis with ChatGPT

Oh some random whim, I decided that I want to use ChatGPT (I use it a lot) to analyse my handwriting.

So, I used this prompt (edited a bit).

You are a world-famous graphologist who has done a lot of work on graphology for a lot of business people, entrepreneurs, political leaders and people in power and you specifically excel in doing it for Indians. And your interpretation is far, far better than others. I'll give you a sample of text written by somebody. I want you to analyze that and give me a very sharp, sharp, sharp thought on how that person is and what are that person's ambitions and life and aims. Remove any biases or perspectives that you may have on that person. Be as objective and as indifferent. Operate from zero empathy.

The outcome was, well, amazing!

It told me about things that I knew already (reinforced things). And I am left thinking that may be graphology is legit. Here’s the analysis it created (you will have to ask for access). Some things are worth highlighting.

a/ I may not be a Chalta Purza per that! Lol!

b/ Am great at being a founder. Lol. And I suck at focus and execution. Lol again.

c/ I need to partner with people who are high on conscientiousness. If you are you one? DM me. If you know someone else, ask them to DM me.

If you want more, you are welcome to read the analysis.

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3/ Gardener in a War vs Warrior in a Garden

I dont know where this thought came into my head while I was writing the things above.

I read somewhere that it’s better to be a warrior in a garden than being a gardener in a battle. And I validate this 100%. In the past week, for work, I’ve had to do many difficult conversations and while I did not enjoy those (or the aftertaste) I realized that I need to have more of those. And since I’ve been a gardener all my life, I couldnt.

I thus want to be the warrior who chooses to live in a garden. I want to be the person who can eat first but doesnt. Right now, I cant.

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C4E/ Culture Book 2.0

I am working on rewriting the Culture Book for the next version of C4E. And its not been easy. For starters, the book by Sans is like THE best ever and so brilliant that I am breaking into sweat merely thinking about bettering it.

Then, there’s so much to talk about and pack in it, in an eloquent language, for a world that loves brevity, to be read by high-agency, high functioning people who choose to call C4E their home, their village.

Then, I havent really written a lot in the last few months and thus words are not flowing easy. Writing is indeed a muscle that atrophies. At least mine has. And I must prevent it from dying.

So, AI or no AI, I must write more.

Coming back to the culture book. I am having a hard time. I want to not deviate too much from who we are, who I am and what my core is. And at the same time, I want to build it to last the next few years (if not decades). And while I do that, I want to reflect all that I want to stand for. You know, high-agency, hardwork, long-term orientation and all that. I have some 100 keywords that I want to own and write and share and all that.

Been seeking help from AI and colleagues and I am still no where close.

Sigh!

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5/ Notes from sgSoloCasts / Daily Live

I realised that since I go live everyday (well, almost), I tend to talk about things at the top of my head.

And that means that I dont save them for the weekend to capture here. So starting this week, I will try to include some notes and highlights from my sgSoloCasts here.

  1. Tried an AI handwriting/personality analysis and found the results surprisingly accurate. See point 6 below.
  2. Using an AI tool as a “sparring partner” for business decisions and planning follow-on experiments.
  3. Preparing a storytelling/communication session for March 7 and working on slowing down speech and improving delivery.
  4. Clear internship philosophy: meaningful work, real exposure/skill development, no busywork.

Ok these are not as insightful as I had imagined these to be!

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6/ Curate People

Naval says that we ought to curate people.

I’ve been doing that since I was like 5 year old. Been a people-connector, low-ego, high-empathy person. Been a Chalta Purza. And yet, when I need people the most, I find myself standing alone.

And the worst part?
The very people that I think I can count on, use me per their convenience and use and throw me. Happened in two cases this past week itself. Sigh!

Also, this use and throw has happened with so much frequency that I am left thinking if its me – I mean if one person had left me, I could have assumed that they did something wrong. But if there are many who’ve used me and left me, there’s something that in me that needs fixing.

So that.

And three things from here on.

a. I dont mean to turn away or offend the rare ones that choose to stay back. There are indeed a few who have my back. You know who you are. I am grateful and I am glad that I have you in my life. I wish I had more cheerleaders and supporters.

And I dont want to discount the role others have played in my life. I am standing on shoulders of many many giants. From my work to money to thinking to life OS to connections to everything else has come to me as a direct and indirect outcome of other people’s generosity.

So, on one side, I want to pay things forward (by helping others selflessly) and on the other, I feel wierd and awkward when I am “used” by others to get ahead.

b. I’ve refrained from writing about this but I think 2026 is the year where I embrace who I am and what I feel. You know, warrior (and not a gardener). I want to accept all the messiness that I am made of. And live that.

c. Despite a and b above, I wish everyone all the best and all the luck that universe has to shower on them. I believe in abundance and net positive games. Each person who grows will hopefully pay things forward and not become a hoarder.

Ok, with that brutal honesty, lets move on.

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7/ Misc things

  1. I am now an early backer of Remster. This will be the 4th or 5th investment I’ve made in a startup.
  2. I use a Macbook Air M1 and I updated to the new Mac OS. And the latpop has had a significant drop in performance. Or may be that I have many tabs and windows and apps open (which is true). And my performance is taking a hit. So, either I need a new laptop or may be build a fast desktop. However, I dont want to be tethered to a location. So I am in that decision making limbo. What would you do?
  3. Saw this tweet. Talks about the Japanese philosophy of breaking the year in 1-6-4. Do see it. For me, the #1 is book2. And then I will marry other large goals into the 6 and 4.
  4. I submitted a screenplay for the SWA Script Lab and Pitchfest! Wrote about something that I think needs to be talked a lot more – the influencer burnout. This is after a while I wrote something. I hope I get thru.

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🈺 Photos from Week 7

Here are some.
Again, not too many.
I am not taking as many pics as I would like to.
The one I want to “feature” here is…

I may have uploaded this last week as well. But I had nothing else ;P

Over the next weeks, I will retire this. Takes a lot of time and gives no ROI. Plus I now include pics in the commentary section. Lets see.

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🈺 Trackers from Week 7

At some point in time, I will have detailed trackers to show. But for the time being the small numbers that I have tracked are…

  • Average Steps -5900. Last week it was about 7800. I want this to be 15K over the next 20 days or so.
  • Pickle Sessions – 4! Also with C going out, I need to find someone as enthu about things as she is.
  • YT Live Sessions – 5. See here.
  • Screentime – Daily average of about 6 hours on my device. Up by 15% compared to last week. I want to bring it to an inhuman 30 minutes. Darn!

What is missing?
Need to get some fitness regimen. Some gym or something. I dont know why am unable to do this :(. May be I will get someone to come to my place and force me to do this? Lets see.

The pen and paper tracker
Here…

I am still trying to find the right things to track.

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🈺 Action on LARGE objectives for the year

In this section, I will capture my progress on large objectives for the year. In 2026, I plan to do the following three things…

  1. Book2
  2. Human Flag Pole
  3. Save a million dollars

No action in the last week on either the book 2 or the flag pole. I did save some in a bank account that I plan to not touch till the rainy day. So a needle moved on that. Yay!

On the other two, I will build a system. Yeah, I know I’ve been saying that I will build one and never got around to. Let’s see when.

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☑️ So, what did I get done last week? And what will I do next 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.

This year, I want to track the following…

  1. Health. I will work on sleep, food and movement. Last week the sleep was a tad screwed. I had a coffee post 6 PM and then I couldnt sleep and then I overcompensated. And then it spiraled. But then now I am back on a regular 6-7 hours of sleep.
  2. C4E / Work. I want to shortlist some idea that I want to work on. I am still far from it. Been 45 days since the beginning of the year. Need to work harder.
  3. Brand SG / Distribution. No action on this. I remain away from social media.
  4. People (Family, Friends, Strangers, etc). No action.
  5. Book2. I want to start with this.
  6. Shauk (Music, Films, Poker etc). No action.

Made comments in italics. Do read and give inputs.

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🏃🏻‍♂️‍➡️ Health

I added Health as a key section last year. 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.

Like the last few weeks, no action. I did play pickle four times this week, if that counts. And my daily health updates WA Channel is live!

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🧠 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.

A few things.

  1. Start a podcast with C and AK. This remains open and will probably get shut. I dont see the excitement in the three of us.
  2. Update C4E’s Culture Book. This is WIP and I will hopefully get this done by next week.

These few come to mind as I speak. I have a suspicion that this will grow and will become unmanageable in a few weeks. I will find a solution when I get to it.

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🥡 So, one thing that defines the past week?

Regular.
There is no other word I can think of. Regular day, regular life, regular work. Etc etc.

The other words for this year have been: Easy, Journey, Downtime.

—
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. Previous editions:

  • 2026: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

PPS: Please do point typos.

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

PPPPS: This is the first “update” of the year and thus a lot of this is incomplete. Allow me one or two weeks to get settled. And, on this one, do lemme know what you think of the new format.

Wk 06-26 – Weekly Notes

Notes, thoughts, updates and everything else from the 6th week in 2026

Morning!

Started writing this on the 7th. Did some work on the 8th. And finishing it on the morning of the 9th (Monday). I woke up late and I have lost the control of the day already. Must do whatever to preserve my mornings.

So, week 6 of 2026 has come to an end. I dont know if its age but this year is flying. While there is little progress on a day to day basis, life is moving with a breakneck speed. From work to personal life to world around us, each thing is changing.

Now change may not be a bad thing. In fact, in the wise words of Steve, its a great thing. I love that things change. Many reasons. Primarily because the new is ushered in when change happens. And I have been a beneficiary of this newness and I know more folks will be beneficiaries.

Look at the SAASpocalypse brought about by AI. See this Reddit conversation. If you are able to go beyond the bloodbath on the stock market, you will start seeing the second and third order effects. I am excited about the opportunity and I believe that folks like me (not particularly talented) must accelerate the efforts to build a personal brand, get into Atoms business (compared to Bits) and learn how to apply these tools fast. I have started to build a thesis. And like I said at the beginning of the year, identify one thing and focus on that.

Ok, lets go ahead and get going with the review of the week.

Oh, the track of the week is Dil Se and this version by Berklee folks.

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💭 Highlights, reflections, updates, notes and thoughts from Week 6, 2026

Note: These are not in any order.

1/ The Zomato Lust

A lot of young people I meet, they want to “intern” at Zomato. Specifically in the marketing space. And I am aghast at their choice.

I have a simple question for these folks. What would you learn at a company like that? Isnt internships about experimenting, learning, doing?

You will become a paper pusher. You will fetch coffee for your boss. You would do data entry. You will become better at corporate politics. You will be a real-life Dilbert. You would be a humble cog in a giant machinery. And I dont know what would you learn there.

I mean I get why people want to be at a Zomato. But as a young person, why would you shoot for safe havens of large companies that are designed in a tightly controlled confines?

I really hope and pray and wish that someday this instagram-chasing generation starts to see life from a long-term lens.

Sigh. I will record a podcast on this.

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2/ Wadhwa, The Address

While going thru my Google Photos, I stumbled onto this photo from Vivek’s house. At a point in time, I was using this house as my primary residence.

Vivek’s house. Truth be told, I miss the luxury it offered.

This is THE most luxurious place I’ve lived at since I moved to Mumbai. And I think I miss it. The house is no longer accessible and even if it were, I wouldn’t be able to afford it. Its my life goal to have access to such places.

Let’s see when.

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3/ The weekly habit tracker

Apart from my digital, Google Sheets tracker, I have started to use a pen and paper one. Here’s a screenshot from 02 Feb to 08 Feb.

You see a lot of empty spaces because I started tracking a few things from different dates and times. I am hoping this will be more full in the next week. Plus I will add more rows (of things that I actually track).

The pen and paper system I am using to track my daily habits.

No, I am not that disciplined that I dont need a tool. Plus I like the idea of quantified life. And to be honest, I like this better. But when I am not at home, this becomes a task to fill in. So maybe I will carry it around? But then I dont want to lift the burden. So maybe digital. Lol!

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4/ The portfolio

This is how my laptop looks like.

I have one more sticker on my laptop. And as AK says, this is my portfolio. And yes, many are missing.

For the longest time, I was the kinds to not put any stickers on my laptop. But then I put Pooja Ki Chappal on the laptop. And then I put CynLr’s. And then once I had two, I let the floodgates open. And today I have all these.

Oh, yesterday, I put one more. Can you spot which one is the latest?

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5/ Poker

Over the last week, three different people talked to me about poker. All three are from MDI. Two threads emerge from this.

a, I need to expand beyond MDI to get more friends and all. I am unable to make small talk with people at cafes; I dont have a personal brand that excites people and makes them want to speak with me; I have nothing spectacular to offer; I am not rich. In fact, at the event yesterday (on the 8th), I could see that I was unable to get people excited to talk to me.

So I need to fix these.

b, I must get back to poker. I am a believer in signs and if three different conversations are leading me to it, why not? And no, I am not good at it but I do enjoy being on the table.

So that.

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6/ Screentime

I had mentioned last week that I will bring down my mobile screentime. I wrote,

As of today, my average screentime on the mobile is 6 hours and 50 minutes (and that too is 18% down from last week). I want to work to get my mobile screen time to 30 minutes.

Here’s how it is for this week.

Screenshot

Down 39%. Yay!
It’s at 4 hours, 40 minutes.
Last week it was 6 hours, 50 minutes. So I’ve shaved about 2 hours. I insist that I want to get it to under 30 minutes. Looks tough but we shall try.

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7/ Misc things.

In no order…

  1. I dont like to travel within the city. This week I had to travel to meet people and it was not good.
  2. I’ve made some progress on the mental health / influencer thing. Am still not ready to talk about it but I like that I am spending some time on it each day.
  3. Been reading a lot of pieces from Om Malik. God bless Pradeep for his curation.
  4. Saw this quote, “In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man (with half-baked knowledge) is king, but the two-eyed man (who is a visionary genius) is in for a hell of a ride (suffers a backlash and is called a fool.)”. Loved it.
  5. A person quit working with C4E cos they didnt like the culture here. This is a new. I’ve had people leave us for a lot of reasons (money primarily) but never for culture. I thought the culture was a differentiator.
  6. Met someone who’s gone to NS. I remain on the edge about me being there. But if you are young, you must try, if you can afford.
  7. Took some photos yesterday and edited those on Snapseed. Loved it. Must do more. Here’s one…
This is a shot of Veda. Heavily edited using Snapseed.

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🈺 Photos from Week 6

Here are some.

Over the next weeks, I will retire this. Takes a lot of time and gives no ROI. Plus I now include pics in the commentary section. Lets see.

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🈺 Trackers from Week 6

At some point in time, I will have detailed trackers to show. But for the time being the small numbers that I have tracked are…

  • Average Steps -7046. Last week it was 5186. I want this to be 15K over the next 20 days or so.
  • Pickle Sessions – 2. Want to get to 3. I will see if I can go.
  • YT Live Sessions – 5. See here.

What is missing?
Well a lot. Sleep, workout, yoga sessions, food, emotions, habits, money and more. To be honest, I have not filled in my in2026 tracker this past month. I will get on to it from today.

What did I do new?
I tried to use a pen and paper based tracking system. See above.

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🈺 Action on LARGE objectives for the year

In this section, I will capture my progress on large objectives for the year. In 2026, I plan to do the following three things…

  1. Book2
  2. Human Flag Pole
  3. Save a million dollars

I have started to work on the book. At this time, I am reading and writing some. I am relying heavily on AI.

On the flag pole, no action so far. Apart from better food and some movement. I am using Harada method for it. Here’s what I am told…

Ofc, this is the starting point. I need to do a lot more deep dive into things to be able to. The point is, if you follow a system, things are doable. And I want to do that.

☑️ So, what did I get done last week? And what will I do next 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.

This year, I want to track the following…

  1. Health. I will work on sleep, food and movement.
  2. C4E / Work. I want to shortlist some idea that I want to work on.
  3. Brand SG / Distribution
  4. People (Family, Friends, Strangers, etc)
  5. Book2. I want to start with this.
  6. Shauk (Music, Films, Poker etc)

Like the large objective bit, there is no update on this as well. I will get to this at some point.

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🏃🏻‍♂️‍➡️ Health

I added Health as a key section last year. 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.

Like the last few weeks, no action.

I restarted my daily health updates WA Channel. Thanks to ladies from Sher.

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🧠 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.

A few things.

  1. Start a podcast with C and AK
  2. Update C4E’s Culture Book

These few come to mind as I speak. I have a suspicion that this will grow and will become unmanageable in a few weeks. I will find a solution when I get to it.

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🥡 So, one thing that defines the past week?

Easy.
I didn’t do anything in a hurry. My sense of urgency took a back seat. Took it easy, met friends, ate, chilled.

The other words for this year have been: Journey, Downtime.

—
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. Previous editions:

  • 2026: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

PPS: Please do point typos.

PPPS: I dont like this update. I will try harder next week.

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

PPPPPS: This is the first “update” of the year and thus a lot of this is incomplete. Allow me one or two weeks to get settled. And, on this one, do lemme know what you think of the new format.

Wk 05-26 – Weekly Notes

Notes, thoughts, ideas, links and some photos from week 5, 2026.

Morning from a slow, sunday morning at a nook in Versova. I am perched at the community table at a Starbucks. And most regulars are missing today. After all this Starbucks is more like a coworking space and most folks on Sunday dont work. Except the real estate folks. They work all the time. And in fact, weekends are more busy for them! I wish I had work that required me to work all the time. I wont know what to do if I dont work.

Lemme give you a case in point. I decided that I will get off social media and yesterday was day 1 of that. And within that one day, I was so bored that I didnt know what to do. I called some friends home, ordered some buckets on instamart and showed them the magic of Epsom Salt, ACV and warm water. There are photos and videos of the incident and they shall remain hidden from public view.

On my phone and screen addiction and constant need of dopamine, I saw a reel (lol, see the paradox?) where Pavel talks about how social media websites break your brain. I knew it of course but listening from a man that I respect so much, I told myself to remind that I need to stay off it. I now use my phone in assistive access mode and that’s helping. I will probably get a feature (aka dumb) phone, in case I am unable to break my phone addiction.

As of today, my average screentime on the mobile is 6 hours and 50 minutes (and that too is 18% down from last week). I want to work to get my mobile screen time to 30 minutes. Tall order but we shall try. Oh, WA is like 60% of my mobile usage. I want to get to a place where I use it only from laptops. Oh, the unintended side effect is that I’ve picked up fiction. I am reading now. I finished two Grishams. I am now reading Detective by Arthur Hailey. Finding joy in reading these fast-paced, racy reads.

So that.

Wow, an entire blog as the intro. Not bad!

Ok, let’s get to the weekly notes. And since this is the end of the month, I will talk about the monthly review as well.

💭 Highlights, reflections, updates, notes and thoughts from Week 5, 2026 (and month of Jan 2026)

Note: These are not in any order. And at some places I will talk about the entire month of Jan 2026 as well.

1/ Ramana Maharishi

I’ve mentioned about Ramana Maharishi in the previous note. I have a lot more to say but words fail me. Lemme see if I want to come back to this while editing.

Oh here’s another pic from the trip.

No, no new words come to me.

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2/ AI, Clawdbot (aka Moltbot aka OpenClaw) and Future

The thing that blew up the last week? Well, I tried and I can validate the excitement. I am so so so excited that I cant sit still. The installation etc is still technical for me and thus I’ve not been able to play with it. But the use cases are blowing my mind. I can safely say that the future looks scary and exciting and the only thing left for us humans to do would be to chill. The world of Star Trek, Star Wars, Wall-E will come true. Sooner than later.

And as the second order effect, everything decentralized will blow up – identity, finance, borderless movement etc. And like most things, it will creep up on us slowly at first and then all of a sudden.

And if you are still on the edge about AI, I think you must tip over. Or else you will ngmi.

Oh, and if you can, find a way to earn in USD. Most of these AI tools operate for US as a market and thus are priced at a premium for us in India. I spend about 30K a month on AI tools (I can because I have an income source) but an average Indian may not!

The other thing, I want to get to something where we trade in atoms. All bit things will move to AI. So, again, sooner the better.

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3/ Ankles and Knees

After a pickle session this week gone by, I’ve this lingering pain in my knees. And my ankle has been hurting for a while. Shoulder seems to be ok. I am not taking these seriously at this time. But I hope these are not long-term injuries. I dont want to pick these at this age.

In fact, I picked pickle to be able to add some movement in my routine. So that.

Leaving this here. I will not stop. I have to be fit and I will ensure things happen.

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4/ Audacity and Ambition

Stripe updated their home page to showcase the percentage of global GDP running on their chains.

WOW!

Talk about audacity and ambition. Love it!

I wish I could instill this in myself. And then in my people. And then in the world around me. One of the feedbacks I got from a close enough friend is that lately am not talking about large impact (billions, changing the world etc). I want to use this part to reiterate that I remain committed. Just that at this time, am at a place where I need to get my house in order (thank you, Dr Peterson).

Oh and if you stick with me, I will…

The room keycard from Bloom Rooms.

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5/ Exploration and Routine

The month of Jan saw me take at least 5 flights (Bom to Del, Del to Ahd, Ahd to Bom, Bom to Maa and back) and 5 cities.

This was after a while that I took so many flights in a month. And I loved it! I could meet friends, collaborators, see the world and experience the feeling of momentum. I could sense adventure.

However, because of all this travel, I was unable to stay on track (writing, food, sleep, work, money, writing etc). And I messed up my routine.

I know both these things (exploration and routine) are important. I know that I need to have a balance (or may be harmony) between the two. I know that I am not the most disciplined about these things. I know I need to be. And I know that at my age, if not now, then when.

I need to find a system that allows me this. May be each place I am at, I need 2 hours in a day to sort my head and things. And thus could include writing, workouts, people etc etc. I dont have any travel planned (there is a potential trip to Delhi and I will stress test this two-hour thing). I shall report, in case I have to travel.

So that.

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6/ Lessons and Dreams (from The Way Back)

I saw The Way Back on my flights between Mumbai and Chennai. Loved it. Here’s a trailer…

I have a lot of thoughts. Lemme try to articulate.

A. There’s way too many lessons that you can draw from sports.
From the film, I learnt how to inspire kids, how to bind them in a team, how to discover yourself while you are engaged in sports. Thing is, I must find a way to marry sports and my work. Though I am not good at most sports but I love the effort people put in.

B. I want to make films.
And sports film at that. Or the film of underdogs. They may or may not win but story of underdogs. Some of my favorites are from these genre.

I will have to reinvent myself. Do I want to? Do I have the patience? Do I have the talent? Do films fit into the thing that I want to focus on? Need to think.

Oh, maybe marry sports AND films.

C. I must build my team like a sports team.
Will add this to the culture book am working on.

Oh, while you are at it see this…

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7/ Detox and Dhan

If you see me active on Instagram, LinkedIn, or Twitter, PLEASE flag it to me. For each incident, I will fine myself 1000 bucks. And I will give this to whoever flags this first.

There are some “rules” though…

  1. I will continue to use these platforms for work or to support others. A young person from Delhi wants me to post something on Linkedin on the 2nd Feb. I will do that. Then, C4E is doing at session with Palash on the 8th. I will talk about that.
  2. For work, I may need to research a few things on these networks. I will do that.
  3. Most of my new information (about whats new and whats happening) comes from these social networks. Lately my feed had a lot of chatter on AI bots, programmatic SEO, AI Influencers, and other such things. This is also where work is moving for me. And this means that I will from time to time get back to know more.
  4. I may need help in reaching out to more people. I will continue to do that.

So this.

I plan to stay away till end of Feb. Or till I’ve reduced my average screen time to 30 minutes, whichever is first.

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8/ SG’s Patrons and 1000 True Fans (or 10 lakhs from 10 people)

One of the most power ideas of all times is 1000 True Fans (by KK). He says,

To be a successful creator you don’t need millions. You don’t need millions of dollars or millions of customers, millions of clients or millions of fans. To make a living as a craftsperson, photographer, musician, designer, author, animator, app maker, entrepreneur, or inventor you need only thousands of true fans.

I would love to have 1000 true fans. I have 3.
Thank you, Shruti, Prak and C.

I even wanted to IPO my life (see this) and I got 0 takers.

At some point in time in life, I will try to bring this back. The intention remains that I want to be more accountable to the world around me. And once I have a patron, I will have to be accountable!

But then I’ve not been able to find people who’d be my patrons or participate in my Life IPO and thus this remains a failed experiment / idea.

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9/ Misc things from this week / month

Here are some thing that I want to capture but not necessarily talk about in great length.

  1. This video of Steve at a Design Conference.
  2. Discovered Lana Del Ray (wiki). Love it. See this track and now this.
  3. I am unable to get that lingering feeling off my chest that I want to make films. I think I will play with AI and make some sort of a short film. Let’s see.
  4. C4E Culture Book. I have started to think about updating the C4E Culture Book. In case you have thoughts, please lemme know. The current culture book is here.
  5. Had to take a 7-digits INR working capital loan. Hate it. But then, grateful as well that I have access to credit.
  6. This film has my heart. Love it. For the script. And for the music. Ofc, made by AI.
  7. Cleaned my Apple Notes and it has given me a LONG list of links that I have saved and yet to action.

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🈺 Photos from Week 5

Here are some. Not too many tbh but there are some gems nonetheless.

Over the next weeks, I will retire this. Takes a lot of time and gives no ROI. Plus I now include pics in the commentary section. Lets see.

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🈺 Trackers from Week 5

At some point in time, I will have detailed trackers to show. But for the time being the small numbers that I have tracked are…

  • Average Steps -5186. I want this to be 15K over the next 20 days or so.
  • Pickle Sessions – 1. Still unable to get to 3. May not play in the coming week (cos knees etc)
  • YT Live Sessions – 4. Missed today morning. Yesterday’s is still not working. It has to be me because everyone else seems to be working on it. I will probably record and upload.

What is missing?
Well a lot. Sleep, workout, yoga sessions, food, emotions, habits, money and more. To be honest, I have not filled in my in2026 tracker this past month. I will get on to it from today.

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🈺 Action on LARGE objectives for the year

In this section, I will capture my progress on large objectives for the year. In 2026, I plan to do the following three things…

  1. Book2
  2. Human Flag Pole
  3. Save a million dollars

No action in the whole of Jan.

Again, not beating myself over it. And not letting this become a blind spot either. Just acknowledging.

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☑️ So, what did I get done last week? And what will I do next 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.

This year, I want to track the following…

  1. Health. I will work on sleep, food and movement.
  2. C4E / Work. I want to shortlist some idea that I want to work on.
  3. Brand SG / Distribution
  4. People (Family, Friends, Strangers, etc)
  5. Book2. I want to start with this.
  6. Shauk (Music, Films, Poker etc)

Like the large objective bit, there is no update on this as well. I will get to this at some point.

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🏃🏻‍♂️‍➡️ Health

I added Health as a key section last year. 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.

Like the last one, no action. Give me a few weeks.

Oh, I may want to start my daily health updates on a WA Channel. I may want to start that again. Lets see.

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🧠 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.

A few things.

  1. Start a podcast with C and AK
  2. Update C4E’s Culture Book

These few come to mind as I speak. I have a suspicion that this will grow and will become unmanageable in a few weeks. I will find a solution when I get to it.

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🥡 So, one thing that defines the past week?

Easy.
I didn’t do anything in a hurry. My sense of urgency took a back seat. Took it easy, met friends, ate, chilled.

The other words for this year have been: Journey, Downtime.

—
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. Previous editions:

  • 2026: 1, 2, 3, 4

PPS: Please do point typos.

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

PPPPS: This is the first “update” of the year and thus a lot of this is incomplete. Allow me one or two weeks to get settled. And, on this one, do lemme know what you think of the new format.

Wk 04-26 – Weekly Notes

Notes, thoughts, ideas, links and some photos from week 4, 2026.

7:41 AM, Tiruvannamalai

New Week.
New City.
And I love it!

This week, I was in Ahmedabad, Mumbai and then Chennai. And now here. Loved it. It’s good and bad.

Good – I got so many new experiences, new sights and new smells. You know, something shifts your internal chemistry when you have new experiences touch your soul.

Bad – The routine gets screwed. I sleep on unfamiliar beds, eat things that you dont want to eat, dont have a table to write on (I am writing this lying on the bed) and I am unable to work out. I can only imagine how the traveling salesmen, athletes, celebrities manage their fitness!

Ok, ranting. Lemme get to the weekly notes.

💭 Highlights, reflections, updates, notes and thoughts from Week 4, 2026

These are not in any order. And like last wee, I will try to include as many photos as I can.

1/ Ramana Maharishi

I am at Tiruvannamalai to visit Sri Ramanasramam, the Ashram of Ramana Maharishi.

I am not a religious person. Neither am I spiritual to be honest. I am indifferent. I am probably that Nihilist Penguin in human shape. Lol.

Anyhow, the visit has been worth it.

Especially cos it needed the grind to reach here (a flight to Chennai, a 4-hour road trip that became 8-hours long (thanks to a rally by Modi Ji) and the hunt for a place in the large town. If you get things easy, you dont respect those ;P

The entrance to the Ashram.

And some bouts of clarity that struck me.

No, I am definitely not the illuminated one. Never was. May get to that some day. But now that I’ve spent a day or two here, I did get some thoughts. For starters, I am a LOT more aware of the constant bombardment that we subject ourselves to. That I subject myself to.

While I was in the ashram, I didn’t use the phone and it was painful for the first few minutes. And then the silence engulfed me. And even when it did, there was this revolt from my system. I found myself reaching to my phone more than once, tbh.

I found myself thinking about how you can invest your time enquiring about who you are and what’s the purpose of life and all that. Or you can run the rat race (do see this). Or how you can discharge your duties and while you do that, you are helpful to people, the world and thus, in exchange, to yourself. And maybe that’s there is to life.

Truth be told, I’ve known this for a long time (that I need to be useful and be of help to people and that my salvation is in helping others get to their respective salvation). Each spiritual or inward experience brings that to surface. The only addition that seems to be happening lately is the move towards the oneness. I am far from it, especially because of actions and thoughts of so many people seem so… stupid.

Ok moving on.

One striking thing that I noticed about the Ashram was that there was no conversation about religion at all. While the leaning is clearly towards Hinduism (I could be wrong), there were no overt showcase of religion.

The most important thing I noticed is that simplicity with which he lived his life. They’ve preserved two rooms where Ramana Maharishi seemed to have lived, died and held meetings. And the rooms were tiny and sparse. An astute builder would have sold that much space as a cosy 1 BHK but we are talking about a guy who commandeers thousands (if not lakhs) seekers. And yet he lived in place with no opulence. Room barely large enough to do even yoga, white bedsheets and literally no furnishing. Made me wonder why do people chase opulence of palaces and kingdoms.

Reminded of that couplet by Mehshar Afridi. He says,

“Rehta Hai Sirf Ek Hi Kamre Mai Aadmi, Uska Guroor Rehta Hai Baki Makaan Mai!”

And no, this is not to be confused with Minimalism or hoarding. This is more from the space of needing little. You may or may have large wants. I’ve been there – want a lot, hoarded a lot, reduced those. And now I am an advocate of Optimalism – things that you need to live a good life. This includes, limited number of clothes, comfortable bed, cool bedroom, air purifier (while in india lol) and a Starbucks ;p

Lol!

Only I could have compared Starbucks and Sri Ramanasramam in one note. On the mid-wit curve, I am either the illuminated one. Or I am stupid. You decide. And lemme know.

The midwit curve.

So, to end this part, if I were to talk about who am I, these things come to the top of mind…

  • Medium thru which things happen. In words of Gokul, a medium of opportunity exchange.
  • Cheerleader of action.
  • Enable others to get to their salvation.
  • Be of service to the world around me. In words of Scott Adams, be useful.

And like most lists and things, this is WIP.

Ok. Moving on.

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2/ Sleep

Lets move to worldly things like sleep and all that.

My sleep has been all over the place this month. Many reasons. The big one is of course all the travel. And the minor one is all the distractions. And I want to fix it. I can control the distractions for sure – other things will need some thinking.

I have realised that with age, unless I get my sleep, I am unable to function well. And on top of that, with lesser time at hand, I want to optimize the time that I am up. And thus means that I need to get more from my sleep.

You see how this is a vicious circle?

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3/ Constant Simulation

Marrying 1 and 2 above, I am acutely aware of this constant simulation that I have subjected my mind to. I mean there is not a second in my day when I am not jumping from one thing to another. And that’s NOT cool at all. I can’t be of service to the world (or my loved ones) if I am unable to get deep into things.

So I need to find a solution.

I can start with the modern-day boon and bane. The mobile phone. I will fix my life.

Guess what made Beeple famous?

So, over the next 21 days (habit formation and all that), lemme try to fix this. And while I am at it, I will also try to add some more good habits.

So, I will be off SM (unless work), eat only Lal Babu’s food (if I am in Mumbai) and average 15K steps per day. And if I can do these three, without an exception, I will reward myself with a trip to Singapore in March.

Off SM means I will delete apps from phone (use only on laptop and that too ONLY when I am in a Starbucks). I will not actively post (unless someone asks me to open it). I will use my YT lives and these weekly updates as a way to share what I am upto.

Eat Lal Babu’s food means the things that are cooked in my kitchen by Lal Babu. If I am travelling, I will see what I will find to eat.

Steps is easy. Wherever I go.

To be honest, I was unable to stay off social media cos I thought that I will miss out on something important. I mean look at how fast the world is moving! But then, fuck the FOMO. I am sure the Village will keep me abreast with what I need to know. And news important enough for me to know, will reach me!

Oh, and this starts the day I land in Mumbai. Lol!

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4/ Making Health my identity

Marrying the three above, I think I will make health my identity. Lemme explain.

A person like Virat Kohli is paid to play well. The largest ingredient in that is to be fit – physically and mentally. An actor like Ranbir Sing is paid to look good. The largest ingredient is perceived beauty. A corporate leader is paid to make great decisions. A large part of that is low cognitive load and thus they are offered comforts.

I am not an athlete, not an actor and not a corporate leader. In fact, I refuse to let my identity come from the work I do. However if I dont want my body to fail my brain, I need to keep the body well.

If I were to look at my work, I am probably paid to think and connect. Connect people, dots, things. And get things done. And I do all this with a lot of enthusiasm, effort and emotion.

Now, if I could do the same effort with same three Es, for my health, I would get fitter. So that.

Side Note: I saw a reflection of me in a mirror while I am here (in a tee and pants) and I dont like how I look. And this, I want to change.

PS: Credits to this book that I am reading.

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5/ Chennai

I have loved my time in Chennai this trip. There was less traffic (probably because long weekend), great weather (needed AC but I could walk on the roads) and great people (Aashik, Nikhil, Aditya, Shravan etc). And there was enough things to do. There’s something about relaxed, no-agenda meetups

Also reminds me that I must travel more often (lol).

Red hearts pro max!

Oh, this is a photo from a random traffic signal in Chennai. I am told that all these red signals have red hearts. Lol.

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6/ Nagarathna Memorial Grant is now open

The annual Grant is now open.

In Thej’s words, “I am creating a yearly ₹1,00,0001 micro-grant to support something meaningful. Grant is named after my mother – Nagarathna. The reason for grant could be anything as long its meaningful to you and people around. Though I prefer free and open source or creative commons projects, It’s not a must. It’s a no strings attached grant.”

I am a fan of Thej’s work and I support his grant. In fact, I instituted SoG Grant after I learnt about microgrants from NMG. I encourage you to apply and share word.

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7/ Notes from flight to Chennai (AI 2780)

It’s no secret that I take notes when I am in flights, I take notes (this time I saw parts of a a movie as well and I must see more films as well and make more films) and here are some redacted, snippets from the flight.

  1. I need a main quest that gives meaning to life. I think running a business is not a quest. While its creating and keeps me happy and engaged and all that, its not a big one. Think of the quests that Dr Peterson talks about. Think of a “provider” for a family.
  2. I love being in flights. They allow me to think hard and deep about things. Need to make more such caves.
  3. I realised that I dont work harder cos I have it easy. On paper, I have a business that throws enough cash at me to keep happy and maybe this is a problem? I dont talk about this often. Must do.
  4. I am not even an petty thief!
  5. What do I focus on this year – yet to find out. I have options – events, defi, Helio.
  6. Live a life where I work hard, get paid well and I pay people well. Sanket told me this first. So that.

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8/ Films

Staying on the notes, I think I must make movies!

I dont know why I keep coming back to it. There was a time when I was convinced that I wanted to make movies. I chased that dream. Made some moves. Failed. And now that I am back to thinking of the next steps, I find myself wanting to do movies! And even though I know that AI will screw this business, I am still keen on doing that.

This seems to be the constant itch that I cant seem to get away from. As a child, I had wanted to make ad films, then I wrote a book, then some short films and then I have been all over the place. I must either scratch the itch (make films and get over with it) or I must bury the hatchet!

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9/ WordPress vs Substack

Substack seems to be evolving into a CMS and an ecosystem. It seems to be evolving into a blogger / Medium. Compared to wordpress, I think Substack offers a lot of advantages and I am almost on the fence about moving my words to Substack.

I typically want to own my content and words and all that and while on Substack as well, the words would be mine, I am still on the fence about it. The ones who’ve moved, what do you think?

Any other learned opinions?

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10/ Misc things from this week

Here are some thing that I want to capture but not necessarily talk about in great length.

  1. This speech is kickass. Do see. It talks about The Power of the Powerless. One of the best texts I’ve ever read in a long long time.
  2. This group of musicians, Patiala Mehfil, has my heart. Each time I see a great music act, I want to get into that business.
  3. This campaign by Plum is KICKASS. I wrote about it here. If you are a marketer, please take note.
  4. DD held their Darbar in Chennai. OFC, I didn’t attend it but a win for someone from the village.

Guess this is it.

I dont have a lot of reads, link etc this week (travel, you see). Maybe more next week.

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🈺 Photos from Week 4

Here are some.

Over the next weeks, I will retire this. Takes a lot of time and gives no ROI. Plus I now include pics in the commentary section. Lets see.

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🈺 Trackers from Week 4

At some point in time, I will have detailed trackers to show. But for the time being the small numbers that I have tracked are…

  • Average Steps -9047. I want this to be 15K over the next 20 days or so.
  • Pickle Sessions – 1. I want this to be 3 over the next few days. I also want to upgrade to Paddle one of these days.
  • YT Live Sessions – 4. Missed for the 22nd, 24th and 25th. Will miss 26th as well unless i do it from the car, en route to Chennai. Let’s see.

What is missing?
Well, sleep, workout, yoga sessions, food, emotions, habits, money and more.

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🈺 Action on LARGE objectives for the year

In this section, I will capture my progress on large objectives for the year. In 2026, I plan to do the following three things…

  1. Book2
  2. Human Flag Pole
  3. Save a million dollars

No action last week either. Jan is almost over and I have not moved an inch on this! Also, last week I mentioned that if I am gonna be moving around this year, how do I keep consistent towards the goals. I dont know the answer. Will think.

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☑️ So, what did I get done last week? And what will I do next 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.

I will get back on this in the next update. This year, I want to track the following…

  1. Health. I will work on sleep, food and movement.
  2. C4E / Work. I want to shortlist some idea that I want to work on.
  3. Brand SG / Distribution
  4. People (Family, Friends, Strangers, etc)
  5. Book2. I want to start with this.
  6. Shauk (Music, Films, Poker etc)

.

🏃🏻‍♂️‍➡️ Health

I added Health as a key section last year. 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.

Like the last one, no action. Give me a few weeks.

.

🧠 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, need a few weeks

Like the last two, I will get back on this in the next few updates.

.

🥡 So, one thing that defines the past week?

Downtime.

The other words for this year have been: Journey.

—
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. Previous editions:

  • 2026: 1, 2, 3,

PPS: Please do point typos.

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

PPPPS: This is the first “update” of the year and thus a lot of this is incomplete. Allow me one or two weeks to get settled. And, on this one, do lemme know what you think of the new format.

Comfort, Cockroaches, and the Question I’ve Been Avoiding

I’ve lived a comfortable life by most standards, but comfort has a quiet cost. When survival comes easily, effort becomes optional—and the real question is never about money or success, but whether you’ve ever truly tested yourself. This is a reflection on choosing freedom over validation, creation over consumption, and finally deciding to see what lies beyond playing safe.

Quick Summary

This reflective blog post explores the tension between comfort and unrealized potential, examining what it means to live in survival mode versus truly testing one’s limits. Through personal stories about money, discipline, health, freedom, and creation, it challenges conventional ideas of success, productivity, and spirituality. The piece emphasizes designing a low-friction lifestyle, using money as a tool for time and mental clarity, prioritizing physical health, and finding meaning through creation rather than consumption. Ultimately, it is a meditation on personal agency, self-honesty, and the courage required to move beyond comfort and discover one’s true capacity.

For most of my adult life, I’ve lived with an uncomfortable truth:

I’ve never really tested myself.

Not in the dramatic, movie-scene sense. I’ve worked. I’ve earned well. I’ve survived. But survival is a very low bar when you’re naturally gifted, reasonably lucky, and surrounded by people who won’t let you fall too hard.

In 2019, just before COVID, I earned north of 50 lakhs. On paper, it looked impressive. Internally, it felt… underwhelming. Like cruising a Ferrari at 40 kmph because the road is familiar and safe.

The question that keeps coming back is simple and brutal:

Have I ever pushed myself to see what I’m truly capable of?

The Curse of Being “Naturally Fine”

I’ve always had this strange problem: things work out.

Opportunities show up.
People trust me.
Money comes without extreme effort.

Even today, there are at least three clear paths where people keep telling me, “Just do this and the money will come.”

And they’re not wrong.

I have a financial safety net most people don’t:

  • Friends who can open bank doors instantly
  • People willing to lend money on trust alone
  • Mentors who know I’ll land on my feet

One mentor once laughed and called me a cockroach.

Not as an insult.
As a compliment.

“You’ll survive anywhere,” he said. “No matter what’s thrown at you.”

I’ve seen this play out. New rooms, new people, new systems — and somehow I adapt. Always.

The problem with always surviving is that scarcity never arrives.

And without scarcity, maximum effort remains optional.

My Complicated Relationship With Discipline

Here’s the honest part: I’m lazy.

If I have no external obligation, I’ll sleep through the day. Not because I’m tired – but because nothing is pulling me forward.

I am not naturally process-driven.
I don’t wake up excited about routines.
Solo discipline doesn’t excite me.

For a long time, I thought this was a flaw I needed to fix.

Then I heard Naval talk about the lion. See this. And this.

A lion doesn’t grind 24/7.
It hunts when hungry.
It rests when it’s not.

That metaphor changed something for me.

I don’t believe in constant grinding.
I believe in seasonal intensity.

But here’s the catch: lions still need hunger.

And hunger, in my life, often comes from people, not systems. Different people at different points, different people have been the structure I didn’t naturally create. Chandni today carries massive operational weight. Her task list has 300+ items. Mine would collapse under its own gravity.

My pattern is clear:

  • I perform best when someone else creates pressure
  • I stall when left alone with freedom

This isn’t accidental. I’ve always built people-based accountability, not productivity apps.

The risk?
If those people disappear, momentum disappears with them.

Buying Freedom by Killing Cognitive Load

One thing I’m unapologetic about: spending money to reduce friction.

I try to stay at places that are convenient and safe. And why?

Because I get…

  • Zero anxiety about safety
  • Zero thought about cleanliness
  • Zero logistics stress

That mental clarity is worth more than the extra money.

Same with flights.
Premium economy over regular isn’t about luxury — it’s about avoiding lines, baggage fights, and exhaustion.

My life philosophy is simple:
If a decision doesn’t need to be made, don’t make it.

That’s why I own very few things.
No jewelry. No property obsession. No status clutter.

Everything I own has a story.
Everything else is noise.

Money, for me, is not about accumulation.
It’s about buying back time and mental space.

Money, Monks, and a Hypocrisy We Don’t Talk About

There’s a strange lie we’ve been sold that spirituality and money are opposites.

They’re not.

Every major spiritual teacher people quote lives comfortably.
Some are extremely wealthy.

Robin Sharma.
Sadhguru.
Tony Robbins.
Even controversial figures like Asaram Bapu.

None of them are poor.

Shah Rukh Khan once said something that stuck with me. He said something like, “If you’re poor and different, people call you crazy; If you’re rich and different, people call you eccentric.”

The real monk mindset isn’t poverty.
It’s non-attachment.

No craving for respect.
No fear of disrespect.
No need for validation.

I don’t want to prove anything to society.
Or parents.
Or Instagram.

I only want to prove something to myself.

The Identity Conflict: Thrive or Stay Comfortable?

Here’s the uncomfortable confession:

I’m very good at survival mode.

Life is comfortable.
Work is flexible.
Money is enough.
Freedom exists.

So why push?

Why risk discomfort when the current setup works?

Because comfort has a cost too.

The cost is never knowing what could have been possible.

And I’m starting to feel that this phase of life might be the last window where pushing hard actually makes sense.

Not for money.
Not for fame.

But to answer the question I’ve been avoiding.

Health: The One Regret I Can’t Undo

If I could go back and change one thing, it wouldn’t be money or career.

It would be health.

Your body is the vehicle that carries you through life.
If the car breaks down, every other problem becomes harder.

My non-negotiables now are simple. I am yet to implement but once I do, it will be…

  • 8 hours of sleep
  • 3 hours for health and fitness
  • Muscle building as a priority
  • Meditation as maintenance, not spirituality theater

Everything else adjusts around this.

Creation as the Antidote

Every night, I ask myself one question:

What did I create today?

Creation doesn’t mean startups only. It means:

  • Writing something that helped someone
  • Building something tangible
  • Adding real value to a human being

People who create live better lives.
People who only consume slowly rot.

Meaning doesn’t come from avoiding suffering.
It comes from transforming suffering into something useful.

Borrowing, Not Blindly Following

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is this: Don’t adopt entire worldviews.

Everyone pulls you in a different direction.
Friends. Family. Mentors. Internet strangers.

Some say chase freedom.
Some say chase money.
Some say chase stability.

You are the common point being pulled.

The solution isn’t choosing one voice.
It’s selective borrowing.

Take dedication from one person.
Perspective from another.
Execution tactics from a third.

Leave the rest.

The Only Thing Left to Do

Advice can only go so far.

Life is like a car stuck in a pothole.
People can push from behind.
They can shout directions.

But only you can put it in gear and drive out.

I don’t have all the answers.
I’m not pretending to.

But I know this much:

Living comfortably without ever testing your limits is its own kind of regret.

And maybe — just maybe — this is the season to finally see what happens when I stop playing safe.

Not to impress anyone.

Just to know.

PS: This is Chat GPT’s blog version of notes and transcripts from a conversation with a friend.

Personal Board of Directors / Braintrust

Learn how to build a Personal Board of Directors to accelerate your career, improve decisions, and create accountability using mentors and advisors.

This is something that EACH ambitious, smart, intelligent person needs. A personal board of directors.

From what I know, most businesses have this thing they call the ‘board of directors’.

Typically has seven or eight people. The collective is responsible for ensuring the company is running ok and growing and all that. Even the founders and the CEOs report to this board. And interestingly, the board can dismiss the CEO if they are not performing well. This is precisely what happened to Travis Kalanick from Uber. And there are many more examples of that.

So with that, here’s the idea. 

What if you get a board of directors for your personal brand? For your career? For your life? 

 This board will ensure that you’re doing ok, make sure you’re ticking off all that you plan for, and for your general well-being because they care about your success. 

I have one. And I am of the opinion that everyone must have a personal board of directors aka Brain Trust. Not only does it help you in your business, but it also helps you live a good life outside it. 

So, How to Build a Personal Board of Directors for Career and Life Growth?

How can you establish your own Brain Trust and make it work for you? I break it in three parts?

Part 1 – Identify the Right People

Here’s how.

#1
To begin, you must look for people who are more accomplished than you.

People who inspire you and with whom you always want to engage in long conversations. Your personal board cannot include anyone who can’t teach you things you don’t already know.

#2
Your personal board should be composed of individuals who truly care about your success.

For example, if a stranger walked up to me, I would be fine with whether or not they succeeded. However, if it’s my people, say Chandni or AK, you bet I’m interested in whether they have accomplished everything on their to-do list for the day. (C + AK, if you’re reading this, everything on track?)

#3
The folks on your personal board should have enough time and bandwidth to invest in you, so that they can get to know you.

Without getting a handle on you or your life, they simply wouldn’t know how to steer you in the right direction. Ideally, people on your board should be familiar with your context, such as whether you’re busy, broke, or doing well, and be able to offer you honest feedback. They should act as a mirror for you.

#4
Your personal board should be made of people you never ever want to let down and to whom you feel a strong sense of accountability towards.

If any of them offer you guidance or direction, you should be highly motivated to work super hard towards achieving the desired outcome. The reason being, if you fail to meet their expectations, especially over a long period of time, it may cause the entire board to crumble.

Final Word
Thing is, your board doesn’t need to be of the best people in the world. It just needs to have who’s the best for you. If you are still in doubt, here’s a checklist.

  1. Your mentor
  2. Your best friend 
  3. Your favourite family member (spouse / parent / sibling etc)
  4. A professional coach or your boss
  5. An industry expert
  6. Networking contract to help you widen your circles

Part 2 – Recruit Your Board

Once you have identified the right giants, it’s time to invite them to join your personal board.

Sometimes, you must be willing to play the long game in these situations. For example, let’s say I want Elon Musk to join my board. I mean, Elon Musk probably won’t be speaking to me anytime soon. However, could I do things over the next five years that would make me someone he wants to speak to? If I can provide value to his life, maybe he will pay attention to mine. Our relationship must be symbiotic for a win-win outcome, you see?

Case in point?
Eric Jorgenson, the man who proved his worth to Naval Ravikant by writing his book, and David O. Sacks who did the same for Peter Thiel.

Part 3 – Make It Work

You must schedule regular meetings to keep things on track.

I do it monthy. In these meetings, you can conduct a structured review to discuss what is working, what isn’t, and what could be done better moving forward. You put forward your points, and you keep yourself open for theirs. All for one, and one for all.

Want to know some folks who actually got a personal board for themselves, and brilliantly made it work too? Mark Zuckerburg, the CEO of Facebook. Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin Group. Warren Buffet, the billionaire. Oprah Winfrey, the media mogul. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Basically folks you can trust, and those who can help you get closer to your goals every day.

So yea! This is it.

If you didn’t know what a Personal Board of Directors or Brain Trusts were before today, you’re welcome. If you knew what they were, but weren’t sure if you wanted one – this is your sign to start working towards one NOW. I’m serious, go start right RIGHT NOW!

PS: Oh, if I know you, I would love to join your personal board. I am on DM away.

PPS: NOTES I made while writing this…