13 June, 2026.
Saturday.
Versova. Morning.
Lemme start this one with an anecdote. On thursday, I had to meet a friend in Powai. So, like most times, I left early (around 8 AM) and en route I passed SEEPZ and then LnT. Seepz is where a lot of blue collar and back office work happens. You know, ops, regular office going people. And I saw people walking about like soulless machines. Crowded around foot stalls, sweating at bus stops, jostling for space. No spark. Nothing. The same loop, every day. And without even questioning the reason why.
Then I passed by LnT. This time, I saw crisp shirts, a few jackets, best formals. Almost all with laptop bags. And another bag for their lunch. And yet in this headless rush to what I think would be consulting firms and tech firms.
This one hurt more. These are the people like me and my closest friends. People who did everything right. They studied. They worked. They earned the seat. They dressed for it. And they looked just as hollow as the first lot.
I could only think of a strong elephant walking to work, carrying its own chains. And the peg. To the exact spot that will bind it. Dignified on the surface. Marching, on its own feet, into the same confinement, day after day. And what sucks more? These people are not wrong. They are not lazy. They love their families. They want a good home. The house, the status, the path everyone expects.
And while I was thinking about this, I reached Starbucks and I had nothing but greatest wave of gratitude engulf me! No, I was not rejoicing in their misery but in my freedom. I love that I no fixed place I have to be. I dont have to dance for anyone. I may not have a golden chain and I may have to scrounge around for my next meal but I love that I can run amok. Reminds me of this cartoon…
And no, i’ve never shared this before but I couldnt stop thinking of this as I rested at the Starbucks seat, with my Americano and a butter chiplet in it.
Ok, lets go.
No, no music this week.
Highlights, reflections, updates, notes and thoughts from the week gone by.
1/ Distribution. From young ones.
Lets start with D. I wont use her full name. Shes 22. Runs growth at one of the hottest startups in India. I spent the call sitting at her feet. And I told her so. “I am a Buddha here, undo what I have learned and relearn.”
She walked me through her playbooks. From doing things at colleges to making playbooks to letting others run it. The shout-out she earned from India’s largest personality. And how she writes hooks (which she takes from evolutionary biology – my notes have details on three signals she looks at and I will not share here). And how she uses Reddit and other things.
Oh, she has a keen eye. She spotted Neem Karoli Baba behind me. And then the call became something else. Pania would call it Satsang. Some day I’d get to spend time with him as well.
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2/ The slow rot at the village
For the first time, I admitted to my people that the village that I am proud of and call myself the zamindar of, is slowly rotting. And dying a slow death. Nothing went wrong. Except three things…
- Statis
- I created easy times and thus non-hard structures
- My inability to push people
I am of the firm belief when something grand happens, its the work of a team. And when a disaster strikes, its typically one person to blame. For the village, the person is me.
So, I spoke to my people about how I am feeling. I said, “This village I created ten years ago will disintegrate into nothing. Which is fine. All good things come to an end. And I am okay with that.”
No one disagreed. Which I can imagine.
The good part is that we agreed that we’d love to be around together, free and thriving. And we know that in the post-AI world, we need to pivot. I made some hard rules and lets see who we get to those.
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3/ Average. And refusing it.
I recorded a solocast on Sunday that I keep returning to.
I said, out loud, “I am a very average guy. I have accepted that I am average.”
And then, almost in the same breath, “in my case, I am not accepting that I am average.” Both true.
That is the thing that makes me tick.
Is it okay to be average?
Yes, if you accept the average outcome that comes with it. Plenty of people around me made that peace.
I have not.
The way out, for someone who is not born brilliant, is discipline. “The best way to get free is through discipline.” Also, I have said this in the past and I will say it again. Being in the clutches of the calendar is what buys the freedom.
And thru this discipline and hard work, I aim to be that person that’s average and yet wildly successful.
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5/ June Focus
15 days in, I can say that one of the experiments seem to be working. I wrote a list of things that I want to explore in June. Here it is…
- Distribution
- 66 MG Road
- Caravan Serai (my Book 2)
- 56 Hours
- Revenue from Claude
- Fix my living situation
- And more.
I am glad to report that I think I’ve stayed on course with these. I have made progress on some and have taken action on others. And I am superglad. The one thing that seems to be missing is Claude revenue. So far it has proven to be a great experiment and I love it.
Just today I built something that tells me when am hunching! And then I built a task manager!
Then last week I built a food log generator. Here…
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6/ Brian on Post-AI Life
Saw this podcast. Took many notes. Must watch. A lot of it is similar to what he’s spoken in the past but it was refreshing to see it again.
Some are…
- Double down on founder mode. Maybe needed considering the rot of the Village?
- In action lies salvation. Lol!
- The greatest gift you can offer someone is belief.
- Micromanage? Not sure on this.
- Dont be a manager / coach / mentor. Hmmm…
- “How you do anything is how you do everything”
- Make the problem small and dominate one thing than many things (this is worth thinking about)
- Do what you love for yourself and everything else is noise
More notes here. Ask for access, in case.
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7/ Other things…
Things that I think need to be captured.
- Fable came and went. Lol. I have to admit, it was good while it lasted.
- Elon is the first trillionaire. Wow. And the other incredible thing is the number of people who got 100M+. Go fund out. Now that’s wealth. And that’s how you build a prosperous village.
- Gave gyaan to more people on Claude and oh boy!
- We we did CQ. See the new site here.
- Gave gyaan to a start up founder about fitness (lol) and a young person about how to get her life back on track (double lol).
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📷 Photos from the week gone by
Same. DM me if you want photos.
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📈 Trackers…
Not updating this week.
Funny that for all the things that I am making, the very first trackers that I started with, I’ve lost steam with those!
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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…
- Book2
- Human Flag Pole
- Save a million dollars
Book2 / Caravan Serai. Made some progress. I think by tomorrow I will be ready to share progress with people!
Human Flag Pole. No action.
Save a million dollars. No action worth reporting.
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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.
So, this year, I want to track the following…
- Health. Sleep, food, movement. Nothing. My steps are so low that it’s not funny. I dont know how to walk in this humid weather. Late evenings are better but I dont know how to step out.
- C4E / Work. Pick a thing to apply myself to. It’s high time I figure something. I am not getting the confidence to pick a thing. I may get back to events. Let’s see.
- Brand SG / Distribution. Nothing shipped apart from talking to a few people.
- People. Met many. Should do more of these.
- Book2 / Caravan Serai. Made some progress!
- Shauk. No action.
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🏃➡️ Health
Absolutely no action on this. In fact if anything, this would be negative. No steps, sleep at all hours, eating not clean, unable to manage emotions.
Sigh!
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⏲️ Reminders from last few days
Same as last few weeks. Parking this section.
I think the tracking system I made (I talked about it above) could solve this for me. Let’s see.
If not that, I dont think I will be able to ever make this!
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🗓️ So, one thing that defines the past week?
Freedom.
No, I didn’t suddenly get free. But the realization that I am free was liberating.
The other words for this year have been: People, Motion, Show, Flow, Excitement, Embarrassment, Blur, Whiling, Movement, Blur, Activity, Movement, Regular (again), Regular, Easy, Journey, Downtime, Flow, Show, Same, Motion, People.
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So that.
Over and out.
Until next week.
SG
Oh, and this too shall pass.
PS: This series of posts is inspired by Thej and his weekly notes. Previous editions from 2026 are: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 (missed these three), 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23
PPS: Please do point typos.
PPPS: In case you see me being inconsistent in anything – work, writing, reviews etc, PLEASE do point out