Tag: Book 2

Wk 41-26 – Weekly Note

Notes, thoughts and highlights from Week 41, 2026.

10 Oct 2026
Starbucks Versova

Started this on the 4th of Oct. Continued on the 5th. And then on the 9th and now I am on the 11th and still not able to get this out. Sigh.

So, I am writing this after a while. And I can feel the rustiness in my brain and on my keyboard. The muscle seems to have atrophied. TBH, I dont know what to write. I have lot of thoughts but there is no coherence, no structure, no thought to those. I can ramble on but I dont know what to exclude.

In fact, I am questioning and I am thinking, I dont know why I write these in the first place (except keeping a running log of my life and getting to my catharsis by giving myself a break and finding some mental balance). Not many people read this. And if they do, they dont tell me.

PS: I dont think I write for people. I do write for serendipity and expansion of my luck surface area. o that.

As I sit here on the 5th 6th 9th 11th of October, trying to think of things from the 3 4weeks gone by, I remember very few things. I mean I do remember a lot and I have a lot to say but the words fail me. And the things I remember are not necessarily good emotions or bad emotions. I must have been angry at some point but I dont remember it. I was scared at some time but I dont remember why. All I have is this blur of ideas and incidents.

Does this mean I have attained nirvana?
Does this mean I am no longer human?
Does this mean I’ve lost the capacity for experiencing large emotions?

I dont even remember large events that happened around me in the last few days. I remember reading about the FlyDubai incident, CJP protests, some Asian or Commonwealth games where Indian Cricket Team won the Gold (don’t know what else did we win), Instinct raising 10 billion dollars (or valuation), Open AI’s Dots, US-Iraq thing.

Most of these are geopolitical events, “current affairs”, sports. And while I am updated about these, I am not deeply interested in these. I dont know if I should be. May be I should be?

I could be interested in things that are closer home – you know, hygiene in Mumbai, the attempt to move to Dubai, work I do, people I care for and all that. But again, I dont see the point of it, if in the end all that we do id meaningless. Or may be your life and your attempt and giving people meaning itself is an act of meaning?

Anyhow. I am rambling.

In this edition, unaided, I want to talk about…

  • Of course AI. And all the tokens I burn.
  • Dubai trip.
  • 19.5 20 pushups.
  • Travel being the new normal for me, at least for the next one year.
  • Me being more social. Someone even asked me if I’ve picked up some MLM scheme that I want to shill.
  • My failure with a founder as his storytelling coach.
  • My early success with sgwashere.
  • My failure with hiring.
  • Vv.
  • Finally, the large question that I want to tackle. A close friend asked me what’s rich for you. My answer (ownership of time) didnt cut with her. And thus the question for all of you. What’s your definition of being rich?

So, with that long context, let’s go with the weekly review.

Oh wait.

The track of the week this version of Mera Mann. And this one by a Youtuber.

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Highlights, reflections, updates, notes and thoughts from the week gone by.

1/ The October Focus

I start each review with the public plan for the month. The one for September was empty. 10 days of October has gone past already. And then I am in Singapore for about 10 days. I will be out and about and may not have too much time to do things.

Nonetheless, the plan for October is as follows…

  • Book 2 ;P. I plan to make this my primary thing for the Singapore trip. Aided by Claude, of course. I figured, I can take advantage of the break / trip and invest my time and energy in working on this book. Let’s see if I find a place to sit and write while I am in Singapore.
  • Life plan. I have struggled to figure what to focus on for work. I’ve tried it for 6 months and I’ve had many ideas but I havent been able to stick to any, or make any of those work. I think I will give up on that. And now I will build a portfolio of bets (which I already have, lol). I will do all things that I want to work on. Lets see how that goes. The only thing is that I will stop thinking about focussing and doing one thing.
  • Get to 40 pushups on a trot without getting a heart attack 😀

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2/ Claude and my voice

I had trained Claude with my voice. I gave it my emails, blogs, WA chats and other things. And then I told Claude to learn how I write and then write some. And then I gave it feedback till it started to write like me. It was great for a while. A lot of my mails went via Claude and no one felt any difference.

But somewhere along the way, it broke.

The things it was writing for me? Well, was shit.

To a point that I had to re-write almost everything that it was writing for me. So, I need to revisit it.

Btw, this is a pattern I’ve noticed with Claude. Things keep breaking. I had a made a CRM for myself and I was very happy with it for a few days. And then one fine day it stopped working. Then I made a WA tool that tracks my WA chats and tells me what to work on. And then it broke.

Dont get me wrong. The tools worked well. It ran thru logic, rendered correctly, did everything expected. But the piping I was doing to have the data get read from my laptop, that broke! I think that was to do with my laptop not being on 24×7. Maybe that’s why the Mac Mini revolution happened?

Wait. Why am I talking about here? No clue. If I had an editor, they would chop this out 😀

Moving on…

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3/ Hiring at C4E

I’ve realised that I need people to scale things. After all, people create magic. I can never be a fully autonomous company. And while I need people, I need them to think of things from the lens that I have. I need them to have all the values that I hold true. And I want them to live with my whims and quirks.

Anyhow. So I put a post out. That I need someone to stand next to me and help me. Met some 10 people. None so far is a hell yeah. Some are “nice”.

Here’s a set of feedback and thoughts…

  1. Hiring is tougher than anything else I’ve ever done. Especially because I cant pay a lot.
  2. People dont want to work at all. Most people I met seek “balance”. And when I ask them what does this balance looks like, they have no answers. Except, “time for self” and “chilling”. Of all the people I met, just two of those were willing to work hard.
  3. People are poor with followups. If I could teach people one thing and one thing only, I’d say, the art of followups. Of the people I met, just one person is GREAT with followups.
  4. Everyone has so much happening in their lives that it’s literally impossible to expect them to give their all-in to something that’s not their dream. Unless what you dream of and what they dream of are in sync.
  5. People dont read. People are not into specifics. They have poor attention to detail. Many people claimed to have stalked C4E but not one recalled or remembered things. TBH this says a lot about me than it says about them.
  6. People have an overinflated sense of self. Which is good for them but I am not a fan. Maybe cos I dont have it.

More reflections on this as I talk to more people.

The biggest lesson for me is that I must reach more people. So that I have a larger TOFU and some of that trickles down to me.

PS: Also see #8 below.

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4/ Founder Brand and Storytelling

Last time I wrote this piece, I talked about how excited I was about building a founder storytelling practise. I also dumped all I know about it on a few blogposts. And I did get some leads.

One was very promising. And I spent a lot of time with that founder to see if I was a good fit for him to help him build his founder brand.

And he chose to not go ahead with me.

And I am sad about it. To a point that I dont know how to express it. I gave it all but it wasnt good enough for him. So that.

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5/ Dubai

I spent about 15 days in Dubai. Give or take a few. This time I wanted to live like a local (I didnt) and find things that I could do there, to be able to live there (I didnt).

The trip was, well, interesting. I met a lot of people. Each seemed to have their version of Dubai. I agreed to some versions. I didnt agree to others. I need to sit and figure what version of the stories am I gonna hold close and live with.

I know that I want to live in Dubai for a few months. And I have given myself a target go earn 5K AED by 15th Oct. On that, we have 10 5 days to go. Zero clarity on where it will come from.

Here are some other observations about Dubai…

  • Dubai is all about transactions. People meet. People talk. People think. But at the end of it, everyone seeks a transaction. Even close friends. And the ones you know of before they move to Dubai also become transactional.
  • People are there to make money. Nothing wrong with it. Why would you leave your home and live at a place far far away? And to make money, they do multiple jobs (could work for someone like me with no focus). And yet they need you to lead with one specific thing. I want to build a startup and at the same time, write for founders. Since startups, I write essays. And since I am a well-connected man, I want to help others. So I have a lot to talk. But not one lane.
  • People are dressed impeccably. I am told London is fashionable. Dubai is probably better than that.
  • I didnt enjoy the weather. But people are mostly ok with it. Maybe it will be nice in Dec.
  • The city is incredibly safe. And is very walkable.
  • Things are expensive. Coffee is like 25 AED. The city is great if you make 50K AED each month. But less than that, its gonna pinch you.
  • You need to know people to be able to make things move.
  • Oh, the ghosting nature is correct. You really have to be valuable to people.
  • Brown skin is a tax. 
  • Everyone is busy in their lives – kids, family, social etc etc 
  • When I was there (in Sep and Oct), the traffic was back and so were the jams

Oh, while I was in Dubai, I got really bored after a few days and wanted to get things done. In fact that’s been my state for a long time now. I really want to apply myself to something. I know I cant do one thing for too long. I thus need to find projects. Something that I can do for a week or so and then rest for a week and then get back to work.

So that.

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6/ 19.5 pushups

I did 19.5 push ups day before a few days ago. I am stoked. I have never been the gym / workout kinds. And this gives me validation and I am happy.

Vikram tells me that its an achievement to do 20. I dont get his motivation. He can do 100 and he’s celebrating my not even 20!

PS: I did 20 on Friday. Did nothing on Sat or Sun. Let’s see how’s Monday.

PPS: I hope I can get to a 100. And then do a push-up faceoff with Vikram. And then hopefully, the human flag!

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7/ Travel

From what I know, over the next 3 months or so, travel will the new normal for me and I need to build my life around it. For such large things, I try to think about it a few times, talk about it loud to a few people and then starts to dawn onto me slowly. So that.

This means workout / yoga / gym / writing / blogging etc all needs to happen with the constraints of flights and cabs and trains and hotels and hostels and shared houses.

In fact, I dont think i’ll have a home for the next one year. I want to mentally prepare myself for that.

Over the next few week, ill be in Singapore and Delhi. With tiny trips to Mumbai.

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8/ Epiphany with work

I realised that I need someone to work alongside. And my ADHD brain needs someone to lean on to for getting things done. Over time I’ve had people who would do that for me. With time they’ve moved on, drifted apart, grown up and in general not around. And I am unable to offer time, money, brand, validation or anything that people seek.

So, I need to do the hard thing and find more people to be around me. Who are as dedicated with work and for them life is more than watching F1 or whatever.

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9/ Vv

Found a new young colleague – i have a good feeling about her. She has been helping me do things with Claude. I love her brilliance. And I hate her unavailability. I wish more of her time overlapped with me.

V, if you are reading this, you know the action points ;P

PS: I dont want to get ahead of myself. I’ve had many people but few have stuck.

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10/ Social / Pseudosocial

I’ve been very social lately. This is very unlike me.

Someone even asked me if I’ve picked up some MLM scheme that I want to shill. In the last few days I’ve been more dinners and all of those at fancy places that typically need you to think about what to wear and all that.

In fact, I wore pants for one of those places. And the others are the kinds where people go for specific occasions.

No, I dont enjoy these places. Just that I am forced to. And thus I need to be social. I am actually being what I call, Pseudosocial.

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11/ Work

Many things to note. Here’s a list.

  • Am easy on the cash flow, for a change. Got some big fat advance. So I can breathe easy. Honestly, this is a nice feeling. I wish I had more of such days.
  • Made a few new pitches. Not sure of the outcome yet. But I did make pitches. Unlike the last few months. I want to do more of these.
  • Lost direction and motivation with both 66MGRoad and Atlas. While writing, I realised that I am the kinds to not see things thru if I dont have someone leading it. And thus the want to hire someone to help me.
  • Finished and initiated a new biography project. So, sgwashere is going ok.
  • Fired a CA. Hired a new one. Books for the last FY C4E are closed. Finally. Now to wait for the tax refund 😀

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📷 Photos from the week gone by

I took some. As always, available on request.

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📈 The trackers of life

No tracker updated last few weeks. I did get back to filling some. So when I do the next week’s review, I will have something to show for.

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✅ Action on LARGE objectives for the year

In 2026, I plan to do three things.

  • Book2
  • Human Flag Pole
  • Save a million dollars

Book2 / Caravan Serai.
No movement. I will probably strike this off if I cant do this in the Singapore stint.

Human Flag Pole.
No update. Except the 20 pushups.

Save a million dollars.
No update. Cash moved in and out. Nothing moved toward the goal.

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📌 So, what did I get done last few weeks? And what will I do next week?

  • Health. Sleep, food, movement. Sleep hasnt been the best since Dubai. Even in Dubai, the sleep was screwed. I think its all the food that I am eating that I shouldnt. I had imagined that eating well should be possible once you are on the road. But no, I was wrong. No action on movement. I tried to get in 10K steps but I’ve failed.
  • C4E / Work. Got a couple of new small clients. Made a few pitches. Tried to hire people. So, I’d say some movement. I still dont know where I will be headed. I am oscillating between startup ideas, events, Claude-enabled businesses and other things.
  • Brand SG / Distribution. Nothing large.
  • People. Talked to many many people in Dubai. And I’ve been incredibly social lately.
  • Book2. Lol.
  • Shauk. Nothing tbh.

🏃‍➡️ Health

No log this week. Just the pushups.

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🗓️ So, one thing that defines the past week?

Itch.

I am itching to do something. I am done with these small things and I dont know what’s the large thing I can do. I’ve thought about it. I have talked about it. But nothing seems to be moving! Sigh!

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The other words for this year have been: Uncertainty, Busy, Skip, Routine, Routine, Getting Back, Freedom, People, Motion, Show, Flow, Excitement, Embarrassment, Blur, Whiling, Movement, Activity, Regular, Easy, Journey, Downtime, Same, Drift, Routine, Busy.

So that.

Over and out.
Until next week.
SG

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, 24, 25 (missed), 26, 27, 28, 29 (missed these three), 30, 31, 32, 33 (missed), 34, 35 (missed), 36, 37, 38, 39, 40 (missed these four)

PPS: Please do point typos.

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