Dandapani Archives

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.

Ok, let’s go ahead with the review.

💭 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!

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.

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?

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?

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.

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!

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.

8/ Misc notes that are worth capturing

Here are some that I want to capture here.

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.
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.
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.
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.”
Naval released a new podcast on AI. Link. Yet to consume. But I do love how it calls it “A Motorcycle for the Mind”
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.
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.
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.
This post by Seth Godin on freelancing is worth it’s weight in gold. Do read.
Saw a very interestingn hardware company – Antimattr. And their first product, a wearable. Do check it out.
Read about Allostatic Load. See this.
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.
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.

Needless to say, I love data!

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

🈺 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.

🈺 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…

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.
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.
I need to add some fitness regimen. This has been on my lists forever.
No action on words.

What do you see?

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

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…

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.

🈺 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

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.

☑️ 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…

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!
C4E / Work. I want to shortlist some idea that I want to work on. I am still not there.
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.
People (Family, Friends, Strangers, etc). No action.
Book2. I want to start with this. Lol!
Shauk (Music, Films, Poker etc). No action.

Made comments in italics. Do read and give inputs.

🏃🏻‍♂️‍➡️ 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!

🧠 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.

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

🥡 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 14-25 – Weekly Notes

Notes, thoughts and reflections from the week gone by.

Morning!
Started writing this on Saturday (April 5) and

This was probably the fastest week of 2025.
And I am glad that it’s over.
Here’s my review for the week gone by.
Oh, I am listening to this as I write this.

🈺 The LARGE objective from the week gone by? And the next week!

I was to work on the 2025 plan and Book 2.

This has been consistent objective for the last few weeks. However, I have not been able to make any progress on these.

I can blame it on a lot of action at work. Actually, more than action, right now, its discussions and deliberations. I am hoping that once we have a team, I would have lot more time on hands. But as someone who takes pride in my ability to juggle things and do multiple things, this should have been easy for me. I need to find a way to solve this conundrum.

Anyhow, to summarise, I didnt make any progress on either of the goals. I need to buck up. I need to push myself more.

And like last time, I acknowledge that I didn’t work on these two.
I will try this week.

Moving on…

☑️ What did I get done this week?

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

At this point, the following things are important to me (I know too many but…) and these are IN ORDER.

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

Health. It was a terrible week. Sunday was the worst. I dont know what came over me. But I am back. Other days saw me with lack of sleep, eating kachra, no walks (except one day) and even happiness was questionable.
So, -1 there.

Meru. A lot of action here. Nothing specific in terms of what I can talk here.
So, a 0.

C4E. No action TBH. C is running the kitchen now. I am merely supporting. I have nothing to report here.
So, a 0.

Brand SG. No large actions. I did use AI to build some posts (will link further in the post) but nothing apart from that. This needs to more VERY VERY fast. So, I will be harsh on myself and give myself a -1.
So, a -1.

People. This was a clear -1. I did a few things that I shouldnt have. I mean I wont do them differently but I didnt know that it would have such large impact on people I care for. Apart from that I met some really interesting people that I look up to. So, if not for the snafu, I would have been a +1 on this.
So, a -1

Book 2. No action.
-1

Shauk. No large action. I am gonna travel to meet M. Maybe that counts? Maybe it doesnt. When I am evaluating myself, I want to give myself a harsh -1.
-1

So the overall score is -5 for this week. Same as last week.
Trends from the previous weeks: -5, -3, -2, -1
The max I can get is 7 in a week. Let’s see when I get to it.

📊 The tracker from the last week

Here’s the tracker.

What do you notice?

For me, the highlights are…

I’ve stopped tracking my twitter updates. I think I can skip tracking this. I am habituated to write these. Lets see.
A couple of days were not as good as I would want them to be.

What do you see?

📷 Some Photos from the week gone by

Here are some photos from the week gone by.

Not too many. Blame it on a busy week.

📖 Interesting Reads from the last week

I didnt have a lot of time to read or reflect in the last week but here are some that I did read…

Naval’s podcast with Chris Williamson. I am at an hour and 30 mark. Took many many lessons. Saved some here.
Akanksha Pandey’s March Reflections.
This twitter thread explaining Kun Faya Kun
How I’ve run major projects by Ben Kuhn. Here. At some point, I must write something similar. From Ben’s website, I spotted this post about how to write cold emails by Sriram K.
This tweet by Erik
This post by Morgan. A couple of quotes worth keeping are “The person who is desperate for attention and acceptance from a group of strangers is hardly different from the person begging for money on the street” and “The wild thing about all this effort is how easy it is to overestimate how much other people are thinking about you. No one is thinking about you as much as you are. They are too busy thinking about themselves.”

Next week on, I will also share a list of things that I share in my groups. I may not read all of those but I am sure it would be useful.

💭 Highlights, reflections and notes from the week.

Here are some from this week.

A/ Ankesh Kothari
Met Ankesh and as always, it was incredible to meet him. Among other things, he asked C and I this – “If you had to have dinner with any 3 people from history, who would they be? The answer shows who your heroes are. Then deconstruct what about them resonates, and you will have more clarity on your self.”

My dinner guests would include Steve, Charlie and Charles. Each is different from another – one was an individual poet, other was an investor and the third was an org builder. I should think more on this.

Who would be your three dinner guests?

B/ Rana Sir
Met Rana Sir for something. Went to his home. I almost didnt go but C reminded me that I need to. And thus, I went. As always, it was a brilliant three hours that I spent with him.

One of the things that came out of that meeting was my articulation that if I get physical proximity to young people, I can literally change their lives. Assuming they are willing to submit to me and they are willing to work hard. And then the follow up thought (that I didnt articulate to sir when I met him but was important) – that may be I am destined to be a coach and not a player. I am gonna be at best a Drona (not Eklavya, not Arjuna), a Ramakant (not a Sachin), a Coach Carter et al.

Something to think on. #currentThings

C/ Starbucks induced serendipity
I was at a random Starbucks far from home and I bumped into a classmate from MDI. And I used the opportunity to tell him about Meru. And about C4E. I dont know what would come out of that but it was incredible to have that farce-less chat with someone who knows me since 2004!

D/ Akanksha Pandey’s March Reflections.
One of the best pieces I’ve read in a long time. You must read it. I took a lot of notes. I learnt a lot about myself. I learnt a lot about AP. And thanks to this post, I have started to make public posts about what am thinking about. You may search for those here.

From her note, here’s a quote…

Fear, self doubt, self sabotage, procrastination, addiction, distraction, perfectionism… all can be overcome with stupidity, stubbornness, delusion, blind faith, obsession, arrogance & optimism.

PS: For the context, I had interviewed her for a role with me and she rejected me. Which is ok. But I’ve stayed connected and boy, am I glad! I knew that she would have pushed me to do more if I could get her around. But then as long as I am learning from her even from a distance, I am ok.

E/ Experiments with AI
I’ve been playing with some tools. Wrote two posts. Both via AI. I dont know what traffic would they get me. But it’s amazing that I can churn more content, faster. And I dont see a dip in quality!

I am also pushing C4E and Meru teams to become faster and better with the use of AI. We’ve made some strides. Commendable is AK and team’s foray on Labs with CQ. And then some more.

The ambition is that we would all be AI-enabled Centaurs (in words of Mihir) in the times to come and faster and sooner we get to that, better it is!

F/ Naval’s podcast with Chris
I have a 100 notes on this. I will make a separate post on it. At this time, I am saving my notes here. While I’ve captured this above, this needed a section in itself!

G/ Things I stand for.
Made a thread. I will update it as and when things change at my end.

To be read alongside Work With Me. And also see this photo album where I upload things that are important to me.

H/ People Snafu
I said something about someone that I know I shouldnt have. I cant get into details but I must write.

So, when I said what I said, I assumed what I said was innocuous, harmless, action-induing (I love to err on the side of action). That’s how I talk to people.

However, things were taken out of context, things were assumed without asking for clarification and then I was spoken in a not so cool tone.

I understand why I was spoken to the way I was spoken to. My actions hurt the other person. But then it was unintended. It was supposed to be a nudge in action and all that.

Anyhow. I am rambling. At this time, I know I didnt make a mistake. But I know my actions caused hurt. So, I am unequivocally sorry. I will try to do better.

I/ A-List Assholes
First. What is an A-List Asshole?
Someone who thinks they are A-list talent and are Assholes on top. They may or may not know that they are assholes!

Think of the most obnoxious, rude, unkind, tantrumy sports superstar or filmstar. And then port that person to the world of startups. Think of the rockstar coder that you know who’s also a bully. Steve Jobs would probably qualify to be an A-List asshole.

So, I was to interview someone for a client. And the guy turned out to be an A-List Asshole. I couldnt interview him (we couldnt agree on a calendar) but from the conversation, it seemed that the guy was heavily inspired by Silicon Valley types and was misplaced. Or may be I am misplaced. Irrespective. It was not going to work out. And thus I quickly retreated.

That’s a thing that I need to work on by the way. Stay away from A-list assholes. While it was ok for Steve to be one, in this day and age, I dont want those.

J/ Online selling Gurus
Met someone who told me about the work of these online gurus. You know people like Sadhguru, Robin Sharma, Brian Tracy, Tony Robbins, Dandapani, Dave Ramsey, Russell Brunson, Harv Eker, Chris Chroft and others.

For all the interest I have in cults, it was incredible to learn that cults and these sales conversations tend to be the same!

More on these some other day. But it was important to write and track.

K/ Venture Studios
I need to push C4E into becoming a venture studio. I’ve been reading about the likes of Tiny, Recurse, Late Checkout, Bending Spoon etc. Some of these may not be venture studios in the traditional sense but I like the idea of a small team building many things together.

Again, with Meru on the horizon, I may not get to do this with my time but I can nudge my kids!

Oh, here’s a thing. Most of my ideas are old ideas that I’ve been on since I was a child! I need to find a way to ship more and do more. I mean this venture studio idea, I’ve been on it since the beginning of time!

L/ 12K Steps #in2025
Made a bet of 50K with Annkur that at the end of this year, I will have averaged 12K steps. I made a similar bet with Subhendu. Let’s see.

This also reminds me that I will not have climbed the Mt Everest by Jan 1, 2026. Sigh.

M/ Other things that I want to capture but I may not spill too many words on…

Found money on the road, two times, on one single walk. And I was listening to Naval’s podcast while I found that. Maybe that’s a sign!
While listening to Naval, I was left thinking, should I get into podcasting fulltime?
Implemented Paras Chopra’s TDL at C4E. See this tweet. Been 5 days and so far my score is 0. Lol!
Met some clients for C4E for quick meetings. Not to pitch anything. Not to sell anything. Only to say hi. It’s incredible how many people have supported me on my journey! Eternally grateful.
My back has started to give me trouble. I need to find a chiropractor or a masseuse. I dont want to go to a doctor. The skin thing is also spreading. So that needs fixing.
Met Paras and asked him a few questions about this business. Must push him more.
The number of times I wore pants and traveled this week to Nariman Point – I am reminded why I didn’t do the “regular life” all this while. Once we get an office, this will hopefully get fixed!
Been thinking about US tariffs. Saw some videos. Read some but I am not able to wrap my head about how it would impact and what would the second order effects be. If you are aware, please share and help!

🧠 Reminders from last week

I am adding this section. To capture things that I want to not forget. I will copy paste these week on week and track updates. I will also add these to SG’s Office.

Here are things from the past weeks that I want to remember. And no, this may not be a comprehensive list. In categories.

Health
- Kitchen setup (incomplete)
- Gym membership (incomplete)
C4E things
- C4E Base
- Design
- Borderless agency
Shauk / Personal
- Poker
- Better dressed SG
- Use of money / time
- Love
- Demand more from life

In case you know me, lemme know if I have missed something.

🥡 So, one thing that defines the past week?

Busyness. For nothing. Going forward, I will change this.

In the previous weeks, it’s been Action, Survive, Looking Up, Survival, Taste, Community, Respect, Money, People.

—

Ok!
This is it for the week gone by.
Late by a day but here nonetheless.
Lemme know what you think.
See you around.

Oh, and this too shall pass 🙂

PS: This series of posts is inspired by Thej and his weekly notes. The previous editions are here: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09 (missed), 10, 11, 12, 13

280721 – Morning Pages

Some crazy thoughts from a day when I cant seem to concentrate.

8:45. Woke up at 7:45. Right now at Starbucks. Lemme show you the view that I have right now.

From the vantage point of where I am sitting at this Starbucks.

Ya, that laptop is not more than 6 months old and looks withered. That is coffee. I am tripping on it for 2 days. Enough with ghaas ka paani.

So, here’s things that are at the top of my head.

A. When I woke up, I was more tired than usual. Probably walked too much. Probably stressed too much. Probably it was all the food I ate yesterday. Oh, I would have had some 5000 calories yesterday, if not more.

B. I can’t seem to concentrate at all. I don’t know what’s wrong. As I am writing this post, I am thinking about my relationships. When I am delivering a presentation, I am playing chess. When I am showering, I am thinking of ideas. When I am walking, I am on the phone. And all this after I’ve seen Dandapani videos like there’s no tomorrow. So clearly, there’s no effect on me. Need to think about it. Let’s see how or when.

C. I am not proud that I have moved to FB. Without any Twitter, I am not making any connections. Without any Instagram, I am not getting inspired. And FB sucks. I can’t put my thumb on what’s wrong with it but there’s something terribly wrong with FB as a platform. It’s making me do things that I typically would not do. I mean I am adding random people as friends and then am getting into small talk. I mean I do that on Twitter and Insta as well but that’s more to do with appreciating someone’s work or something cool. But on FB, am being exactly what I don’t want to be. I am also getting sucked into conversations that make no sense. Like this writer wanted help with his book. He wanted people to review. I volunteered. And then he sends me a long-ass message saying that he would only send the book if I agree that he can sue me if I plagiarise it. I am like, WTF!

D. Been writing a prompt a day for PPP for the last few days. Here’s the prompt for the day. “You are a cop and you recently read a story about a gang of art thieves that specialize in stealing figurines from remote temples. You need to lay a trap and capture the gang. How would you go about it?”

E. The road to EBC is looking harder with each passing day. I am not working at all. The only thing I have remained consistent since I started tracking is the walks. I think it is because I don’t need to put in any additional effort to walk. Plus it allows me to see the scenery. Wait. With that argument, I should be able to run /jog as well. But for some reason, I can’t seem to!

So yeah. That’s about it. Moving on with the day. Here’s streaks.

OMAD – 0. Ate like 5000 calories yesterday.
#book2 – 0
#noCoke – 139
#noCoffee – 0. Been having coffee last two days.
#aPicADay – 0
Killer Boogie – 0
10K steps a day – 4
Surya Namaskar – 0
10 mins of meditation – 0
Minimaslism Counter – -2
Morning Pages / Meditations – 229

080721 – Morning Pages

Short post on things at the top of my mind on this Thursday morning.

6:18. Woke up at 5 something. Feeling unwell. Feverish I think. Maybe it’s the AC that spews cold air on me? Or maybe the kachra that I am eating? I don’t think there could be any other reason. I mean I didn’t get wet in the baarish, there hasn’t been any baarish lately. So I don’t know why I feel unwell. I didn’t get good sleep the night before. I was ok during the day. Yesterday I slept at around 10 and woke up without an alarm at 5ish. And I think I slept well. So dunno what’s wrong. Let’s see how the day goes.

So, over the last few days, I’ve been watching conversations and discourses by Dandapani. He’s one of those rare mystics / monks that speak to me. In whatever I have seen, he has remained away from commenting on what’s in vogue (you know, gender issues, politics, etc) and he seems to have the same thoughts about life and people as I (social media is bad for you, highlights of a stranger’s life making you narcissist, etc). I am inspired by his thoughts and ideas that I think I will ape him. You know, mimic him. In the sense that I will renounce all material possessions (I anyway have very few of those) and get detached from whatever emotional relationships I have (again, I have few of those). I will be available to serve the ones that seek my time / company et al. More on this as I start reflecting and seeing where I want to be.

Oh, I am noticing that my eyesight is kinda fading away. In the sense that the things that are in small fonts are blurred. I need to squint my eyes to focus my gaze and then read. Things in the distance are blurry. All my life I’ve taken pride in having good eye-sight. It seems to be going away. Guess this is what aging is. I am at the point in life where the body seems to be withering away with each passing day. I know a time will come when probably all of it will fall away and along with it will go my consciousness that sorts of makes me think, reflect, do, and all that. Wait. If this happens, it will be the best thing to happen. You will know that you are fading away. You can plan for the time when you are gone. You know, write a will, say your goodbyes, get and give closure. The worst way to go would be the one where you go all of a sudden. In the sense that you think all’s hunky-dory and the next instant, you are gone. Without knowing about the impending departure. And without having the opportunity to at least make that final comment or a note on how you lived!

Anyhow. Moving on.

I don’t know what else to write. Lemme come back in a bit.

8:15. Starbucks.
Since I took a break, have shat, showered, read a few pages of this book, reflected on what I saw in today’s video by Dandapani, spoke at home.

I still don’t know what to write. Guess I am exhausted after the flurry of texts and emails and notes and all that over the last few days. Time to get going and start with the work. The track of the day is Hotel California.

Here’s streaks…

OMAD – 3
#book2 – 0
#noCoke – 119
#noCoffee – 8
#aPicADay – 0
Killer Boogie – 0
10K steps a day – 0
Surya Namaskar – 0
10 mins of meditation – 0
Morning Pages / Meditations – 209

280621 – Morning Pages

Short post on affirmations, one of my life goals and other things.

6:32. Woke up a few minutes. Again, from a sleepless night. I dont know what is wrong but something is. I think I need to change the house for a few days and see if I get better sleep. Let’s see.

The thing is, I can rant about things but I have decided I will not. The last few days have been overly negative I will try to stop thinking about those. And focus on things that are not negative. Plus, today is a long day and I need to be at the top of the game if I have to achieve things that I have planned for the day.

So, I started the day with Danapani’s video on affirmations. See it…

It was eye-opening! Even though I have been a believer in the power of affirmations, I stopped thinking about it somewhere along the way. I used to do that on a notepad (I will start again I think) and then I moved to a spreadsheet.

However, when I saw Dandapani’s video, my eyes sort of open. He says (and I did not) that affirmations have to have three things…

Concise choice of positive words
Clear visualization
Corresponding feelings

While I had clear choice of words, I never had the other two. I did have try visualisations once in a while but I did not take that serious. Today on, I will try to do all three. Will probably order a Rudraksh mala, like he has!

Moving on.

I have to say that it’s funny how the dots connect. It’s uncanny. Really. Few things happened that makes me want to become a believer in the mystical world!

Lemme use bullets.

A. Surbhi called and asked me if I want to go to Everest Base Camp in September. The timing is just right – I like to disappear around that time and Base Camp is a good place to disappear.

Plus the Base Camp would be a great opportunity to get a feel of the mountain that I want to summit. Of course, Base Camp is like a stroll in the park. It’s easier than most other treks, just that the altitude is an issue.

But still. It would be a step in the direction.

Plus when I checked, I realised it’s not as expensive as you’d imagine it to be.

B. Shravan called. He’s the kind that’s super tough to catch. Not that I had a lot to talk about with him but he’s the only guy I know who’s passionate about serious hiking and trekking. So among other things, we talked about the Base Camp. He knows my fitness levels and quirks. And he affirmed that I can do that.

On the call, he rattled off the entire itinerary with names and altitudes and other things that only a local would know. Shravan, obviously knew those things!

C. I’ve been feeling listless last few days and I think this could be a good milestone to work towards?

So clubbing A, B and C, I will probably start to plan for the trek in end Sep.
I just need to get fit for that. Lol!

Also, I bring this chat of Base Camp because one of the three affirmations I used to repeat was that I want to climb Mt. Everest by Jan 1, 2026. It’s uncanny how yesterday I was talking about the Base Camp and today I spotted a video on affirmations!

So yeah, may be I need to restart with affirmations. If I can do the base camp this year, I think I will get some sort of a push to get serious about climbing and preparing myself for the big summit in the next few years. Let’s see.

Also, while writing this, I realized that I absolutely love dreaming about things, like the potential trek to the Base Camp 😀

So, I think that’s it for the day. Hope today I do better than the last few days. I need to get my act back on track. I can not afford to slack on work! And here’s streaks…

Morning Pages / Meditations – 197
#aPicADay – 0
10K steps a day – 0
OMAD – 0
#noCoffee – 0
#noCoke – 109
10 mins of meditation – 1. Did 10 minutes yesterday. Plan to do it today as well as soon as I publish this.
#book2 – 0
Killer Boogie – 0
Surya Namaskar – 0

270621 – Morning Pages

After the longish post yesterday, I am sort of black. Don’t have a lot to talk about. So, a non-meaningful update.

6:15 AM. Up a while ago. Tried sleeping at 10 but by the time I finally hit the sack, it was 12. Lemme start by recapping the mile-long rant I wrote yesterday and how I am faring at various things I talked about.

Filled water container and bottles. To a point that I don’t think I will have to order in for the next few days. Good!
Since I couldn’t work from my place, went to a friend’s. Promptly fell asleep. Lol!
Saw no Netflix. But ended up seeing almost all the videos on this channel. You must check them out! Bad.
No coffee but had a RedBull. Bad.
Ate one meal of just Dal. But then ate chips and assorted kachra throughout the day. VERY bad.
I think I need to find a non-carb thing that I can munch on all the time. I use chewing gum often but it’s either too sweet or a ball of rubber in the. I prefer something savory. Or something like Diet Coke 😀
Did 3 minutes of meditation and 5 push-ups (in 2 reps. For someone like me, 5 is like infinity. Super stoked. I need to be able to do 500 in a day. You know, if I want to build strength in my arms! Good!
Walked some 3K steps. The plan is to get out more and reach some 15K a day.
Slacking on work yet again. I still haven’t figured this as an answer.

So, more bads than goods. But then some goods nonetheless. So that’s a good thing. Need to have more goods and less bads. And then monitor these closely so that I only have goods and no bads. Ok, enough of this good and bad wordplay. Has stopped making sense.

Lemme think what I want to talk about today.

Wait.
As I write this, I am back to listening to Singh is King title track. On loop.

In highlights, along with AD, I started with the Podium Writing Fellowship. The idea is simple. We want to add a leg at Podium by adding text content. Now, the niches we operate in (entrepreneurship, marketing and more) has enough and more competitors to even get started but we believe that the content we have is so good that we can rehash is. The first rehash we’d do is text-based content. You know, newsletters etc.

The trouble with it is to find people to write it. For starters, writers are a rare commodity. It’s tough to find great writers. Second, even if we find some great writers, the way we run The Podium, we don’t have enough cash flow to find writers sustainably.

So AD came with an idea to identify young writers and help them get better. Of course, the responsibility to do so is on my shoulders. I have never delivered a longish course to help others learn but I think I am excited. More than anything else, this would help me improve my writing! In the world where AI would eat creative work (you know, GPT-3), this is an attempt to remain sane by actually doing work that creates meaning.

Ok, I am digressing.

The point is, at The Podium, we are taking so many shots and doing so many experiments that I am hoping one of those will stick and make this struggle worth it, at some point. I just hope we can make enough money for everyone that works with us at The Podium. And of course at all other places where I put my time and energy.

So that.

I am back to listening to discourse by Dandapani. Today’s its this video.

He talks about finite among of energy and attention, life purpose, people that uplift you, importance of attention (over money), death (and the finiteness of life), energy vampires, staying affectionately detached to people (super important for me!), passing on the burden of responsibility, happiness (and pursuit of lifestyle that create happiness).

I love how he talks.
I love his content.
I think I am a fan!

Lemme try and take a stab at this. What is my life’s purpose? At a materialistic level, I still want to make a billion dollars, climb Mt. Everest and while I do both, inspire a billion people! In terms of a little more metaphorical level, I want to enable others I know to do well. Do well is an open-ended thingy. I define it by saying that whatever is your end-state that you want to achieve for yourself (make films, travel the world et al), I want you to enable you to do that!

I seek my happiness in yours. I want to see you succeed and I want to derive joy from that. I want to ensure that you live, grow, thrive on a day-to-day basis and I do whatever it takes to enable you to do that.

No, I dont have the resources to do this for a lot of people and for a living and I still need to make my ends meet. Maybe at some point, I reach that place. Whenever that is. Let’s see.

Need to think more. Need to act more.

Guess this is it for the day. Here’s streaks…

Morning Pages / Meditations – 196
#aPicADay – 0
10K steps a day – 0
OMAD – 0
#noCoffee – 0
#noCoke – 108
10 mins of meditation – 0
#book2 – 0
Killer Boogie – 0
Surya Namaskar – 0

260621 – Morning Pages

A very lengthy super-rant on all things Saurabh – work, personal, thoughts, health and everything else that makes me.

8:51. Woke up a few minutes ago.

The feeling of listlessness continues. While I am not stressed about any one thing in particular but I am discontent. I am uninspired. I am like a vegetable. I am slacking at work. I am pushing things around unnecessarily. I am wasting a lot of time on Fauda. Thank God I finished all three seasons, some 36 hours of it, yesterday. Here’s a promise to self about not see anything unless something comes highly recommended. Wait. May be that’s not the right metric. May be the right way would be to see just one thing a month. You know system vs goals. So that I can choose only select things.

I digressed. Netflix is not important. I don’t think I am addicted to it. The problem is, I am uninspired and I lack the spring in the step. There’s no, as they say, joie de vivre! You know what I am saying? My shoulders are slouched. I am being lazy where I should not be. I mean I am not even replacing the water container in the kitchen! I order 1-litre bottles. Expensive. Plastic. But then, very convenient. Damn!

And no, it’s not ok to feel like this. While I don’t chase hedonistic pleasures all the time but there’s a reason why I am here. There is things that I need to do to fulfill promises I’ve made to people. Heck, promises that I’ve made to myself. I still remember I’d once said that I would buy Mannat. No, I dont talk about these things frivolously. The idea is to aim very very high. There’s a higher purpose I chase. And so, it’s not ok to slack.

I need to snap out of it. Find a way out. Find an answer. Lemme try on this post.

So, most things that happen, there’s a cause for those somewhere deep down. You know, cause and effect? This listlessness, thus, has to be a direct outcome of one (or many) of my actions. Lemme try and list things that could be the cause. And then change those (once I spot those).

May be it’s all the crappy food I’ve been eating last 10 days?
Maybe it’s fucking with my gut and with my brain and making me restless?

Maybe it’s all the coffee am gulping that’s keeping me up at night.
Coupled with bad food that has upset my system, maybe coffee is acting as a larger catalyst.

I could have said it’s the lack of action on the work front.
I can’t complain there. There is enough and more interesting work that I can engage in. There is of course boring, mundane, dreary things that I need to work on. There are bad colleagues. There is imperfect information. There is a lot that I can complain about. But there is LOT more that I can be grateful for on the work front. There is so many new things to do. Most things I am working on are new to me and like a child in a candy store, I must feel excited about those. But I am not!

May be I am overwhelmed by all that I am working on?
At any given point in time, I have a thousand tasks open on my Asana. Maybe I am so scared and overwhelmed with the monsterity of that list? I mean imagine if you were one of those 300 at Sparta and you saw a sea of more than a lakh well-trained, heavily-armed, dying-to-kill-you soldiers. You would probably lose the battle even before it starts! May be that’s causing me hurt?

I may say that I am excited and I do well when I have so many things to do. But may be, deep down, I am scared and I dont want to do any of those?

I dont know. Looks like a plausible thing. Will come back to this.

It’s definitely not the money.
While I am still in debt and the money situation is far from being ideal, I am ok on that front. I have a fairly generous credit line in Sonali, my father, NG, RD and more.

Could be it sleep?
I mean it’s no secret that I don’t sleep well. Combination of shitty AC + distractions + restlessness + monkey mind. Of course I know the importance of sleep. I know a good night’s sleep is probably the biggest contributor towards well being. And I get very little of it.

Could it be time I spend on social media?
I feel compelled to create an audience so that I can become independent. I am thus forced to spend a lot of time on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. And maybe the fancy lives of people is filling me with envy and making me sad?

Or do I need to get active physically?
You know, yoga, running and all that? I had actually started to enjoy Surya Namaskars. But I hated the time it takes to recover after I was done. Plus I hate to waste my morning on anything but work. May be I need to get more protective about my evening time as well? The way I protect my mornings?

Is it relationships?
I am probably at the lowest point when it comes to this. I’ve been away from my parents since Diwali. In terms of friends, most of those have reduced to mere transactions (both work-wise and other societal obligations). There’s no love life – active or passive. I continue to avoid places with a lot of people. Making new friends / romantic interests is an investment that I am unwilling to make. I mean I am willing to but I dont know how to.

Could it be my posture?
I just realised that I am slouched forward as I type this. Nah. At Starbucks, I alternate between sitting and standing.

Spirituality? Meditation? Higher purpose?
I haven’t meditated in ages now. I can look at streaks and come back and tell you guys when I last meditated. Or I can open Headspace. Wait. That’s not the point. No one cares about the date. All I care for is that I haven’t been.

Or do I need to work harder on my tiny acts that become a tsunami of gigantic proportions with time? I mean, rather than trying to find one large reason for this snafu in life, could be it that I need to make tiny adjustments and create systems that impact all of the above? For example…

Rather than ordering in each meal, three times a day, I find a place that gives me home-cooked meals (and I go back to OMAD).
I could stop having coffee altogether. If I have to go to Starbucks, I start having green tea. I know it would waste money with flavored water, but it’s ok.
Each time I have the urge to check social media, maybe I do two pushups? Lemme do two right now. Done! Three. Arms are gone.
I start taking the stairs as much as I can.
I block time after 6 PM for walks. Even if I have to take calls, I ensure that I am walking around. To hell with the world. I can give them time from 10 to 6 and that’s enough.
Rather than blocking 10 minutes for meditation, I start with 3 minutes sets?
I switch off my phone at 10:30 PM each night. One of my friends used to do it. I hated her for that but she would and she would sleep well (I am guessing). I need to do the same.
I start adjusting for not having people around and fix the dependence on others for validation, attention, conversation etc.

You get the drift.

I am not sure if I will do all or even any of these. But the deal is, there is radical change needed if I have to live till 120 and climb the Mt. Everest and all that. And it starts today.

I have this dying urge to order in some food. But I shall not. I will go to a friend’s place and get his cook to make something for me. I will start with OMAD today. Let’s see.

So that.

Kaafi heavy!
Kaafi dil se!

Anyhow. In other news, I am seeing videos by Dandapani. He’s one of those rare spiritual / motivational gurus that I seem to relate to. I saw this before I launched into the above “discourse”.

No, the video did not open any third-eye per se but I will try and practice what he’s saying. That I need to do one thing at a time.

Guess that’s about it for today. Lot to think about. Lot to ponder over. Over and out.

Oh, here’s streaks…

Morning Pages / Meditations – 195
#aPicADay – 0
10K steps a day – 0
OMAD – 0
#noCoffee – 0
#noCoke – 107
10 mins of meditation – 0
#book2 – 0
Killer Boogie – 0
Surya Namaskar – 0