Tag: High Agency

Wk 13-25 – Weekly Notes

Notes and thoughts from Week 13, 2025

Morning!
At this time, its 9:05 AM and I am waiting for AK to finish reading highagency.com. And then she and I will record the next episode of Adulting Podcast. And then I have a bunch of things to do and then I have a lunch with Paras. And then I have some work. And I will find time in between all these to write this piece.

So, with that, let’s go!

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

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

Like last week, I didnt make any progress on either. I do have a few reasons and excuses on why I couldnt. I will not get into those. I will acknowledge that I didnt work. And I will try and do better in the coming week. So that.

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.

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

Health. I want to do 4 things here – eat better, sleep better, work on my muscles and generally by happy. In the week gone by, I did nothing. So -1 there.

Meru. A lot of action here. I cant talk about a lot of this. I even wore shoes 2 days in the week gone by! So yeah! But despite the action, am far from getting to the ideal state. So, I will give myself a 0.

C4E. Again, like Meru, I did a lot but nothing to show for. Luckily, Chandni is doing the heavy lifting on the revenue and everyone else is supporting her. On Labs, AK (and increasingly KP) are keeping the movement. I will give myself a 0.

Brand SG. I got a few emails as a result of work I had done in the previous weeks. So that was good. However I didnt take any action on it. So, a -1.

People. Did a few things. Got Bri some gifts. She knows about one. Doesnt know about the other. Plus, like last week, met a few people. Nothing large of consequence. So, a 0.

Book 2. No action. -1.

Shauk. No large action. Did catch the sunset. And thus, a 0.

So the overall score is -3 for this week. Same as last week.
Trends from the previous weeks: -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…

  1. I’ve missed my daily twitter review. I need to try harder.
  2. I didn’t track money for a few days. This is largely because I had relatives over and with them I was loose with money.
  3. Sleep and recovery has largely been ok. I need to get more consistent though.
  4. I added a few rows (journals, OMAD etc). I plan to track those.

That’s it I think.

📷 Some Photos from the week gone by

Here are some photos from the week gone by.

Absolutely love some of these.
Do you want to guess which one?
Ping me on X.

📖 Interesting Reads from the last week

I bookmarked a lot. But I havent read a lot.
Nonetheless, I will capture those here.
At some time, I will have someone post these on larger platforms as well.

  1. What to do. By Paul Graham.
  2. This mile long essay on High Agency by George Mack. This is one of the most important pieces you will ever read.
  3. This essay from Anand never goes old. Do read it.
  4. Companionship Content by Anu Atluru. I love each thing she writes.
  5. Assorted links on how to get rich (thanks to AK for the prompt)
  6. Recurse Manual – This could actually be the future of SoG. And while you are at it, do read Late Checkout Story, Values at Bending Spoons, the Tiny Story, Lossfunk and other venture studios #currentThings
  7. Pradeep’s Note Taking Dilemma – here
  8. Made this list of tools I use – here
  9. Finshots on Ozempic in India – here
  10. Had to read about Frank Slootman but I did not.
  11. The Turner Diaries. Here.
  12. Gautam on how to capitalise a services compnay and reward people.

💭 Highlights, reflections and notes from the week.

Here are some from this week.

A/ AI
Faceless channel, content, code, design, creative services and dunno what all. A lot is on my mind, especially that one of my children is directly impacted by this. I will probably write a longer note some day. For the time being, AI remains at the top of my head. So that.

A.1/ Studio Ghibli
I hve to talk about this. I may not have an eloquent answer but for the first time in my life, since the AI revolution happened about us, I am feeling cheated. Enough said. May be I will do a solocast on this.

I also wrote this on my daily note on the 27th March…

The entire internet has gone bonkers over it. And I think it’s not a good thing. No, I am not resisting change. I am in-fact all for change. But I felt sad that the insane effort that all these artists at Ghibli put in to build art is now a commodity. On the internet, it will be a passing fad – people will make photos, try to look “cute”, make films and I dont know what all. But in the process, we will forget the hardwork that the artists would have put in.

Of course you can compare that to the work of writers and painters and coders. And surprisingly, I was ok when those were “displaced”. So little conflicted on that.

Nothing has changed since I wrote that.

B/ Bhiwandi
On Tuesday, I went to Bhiwandi to see some warehouses. While I went to a few only, the visit was eye opening. The suprising efficiency with whch things were moving around was jaw-dropping. I have heard about those at CynLr, I’ve seen documentaries, I’ve experienced it (QC) but I saw the engine like a living and breathing thing for the first time.

I am not sure I am big fan of how that’s working but it’s incredible. Has to be a highlight of my week.

C/ Meri.health
I got this message on my WA group where a gent from the first batch of IIT Delhi (Ramesh Ji) wants to do a public health startup. And I am unable to help him (I have a lot going for me). I tried to find someone who can help them but I was unable to. My heart goes out. I wish I could help them.

In fact, if you are someone who can help these folks, I would love to connect and even volunteer for a bit with you.

D/ Attention Span
Multiple people have told me multiple conversations that I have ADHD and I need to do something about it. I will start with meditation.

On the beach today, I will not use my phone at all. And I will fix this. #currentThings

E/ Eco Mode
I am gonna live in the Eco Mode from 1 April. The only expenses I would make would be towards work and health. Nothing else. No more gifts, no more “quality of life” improvements, nothing else. The idea is to extend the runway for as long as I can.

F/ Rejection
A candidate rejected me at Meru.

Here’s some backstory. When I interview someone, my approach is to dissuade them from joining me. Some people try to show you the rosy picture and good things and all that. I try to show you the worst things and then, despite that, you are keen on working with me, I am all heart.

This person rejected me. And that was not cool. I felt bad. Need to not feel bad when such conversations happen. Oh, the funny thing is that I’ve been rejected by people in the past and each time that happened, I didnt really feed bad. This one felt personal and hurt more. Dunno why.

G/ Nails
My nails havent been clipped in a while. And I need to find a way to do that. I dont like them dirty and there isnt any time to do that. I may do it today.

H/ Travel
I had decided that this year I will travel less. That is already not happening. I am staring at an upcoming trip to Bangalore (for health) and a trip to Bangkok (to meet Vivek and kids). I want to not do either. But I will have to. So that.

I/ This tweet. And People.
I wrote this in fit of rage. I absolutely hate when my people dont trust me. I want to write more but I will leave at it. I will write on my Roam and in my ecochamber but its important to capture that my heart has been broken so bad that I dont know what to do about it. No, I am not ok. But dont ask me about it. I just want to pour things here and someday when (and if) I write a biopgraphy, purely to leave lessons for people, I will talk more on it.

J/ The Order
More about it is here. Saw this last night. Loved it. Oh, and the writer of The Order (Zach Baylin) is also the writer for King Richard!

I saw a film after a while and I totally loved it. I must find more films and see those.

K/ Started Journaling.
After I saw a tweet (it was by Namya Khan and I cant find the link (thanks to Pradeep for sharing the link)). And this has been inspired by Marcus Aurelius.

L/ Lucky Ali
He’s been dropping bangers one after another on his YT channel. See some here. so many emotions. Lemme make a list.

  1. Why am I not producing this? Why am I not after Rabbi Shergill to make documentary on his life?
  2. He’s aged and clearly unable to sing well. It’s not good to see him in pain. On the other side, its incredible to see him try so hard!
  3. Things like music never go old. One must create art, even in the day and age of AI

On, and staying on music, I cant stop seeing this by Maithali Thakur. May be have a dekho.

M/ Purpose
On C4E Village, the other day we were taling about purpose and while talking, happened to say something increbile (at least I think so). That the world is a mirror. If you are unhappy, the world would look unhappy to you. If you are happy, the world would look happy. I further said…

“…am 42, failure, but instead of that making me sore – it inspires me to do more. more than a 24 year old. and not to any end. but to burn. on both sides. in a way that meri aag ka tez, mera prakash at least mere aas paas ke logo ki duniya ko roshan kar de and unki raah me ek streetlight ban jaaye. raah pe chalna unka kaam hai, mera hai raah ko roshan karna”

And I said…

“we make meaning in life when we make meaning in other people’s lives. the most content, happy, people are the ones that are either reading Naval or doing charas or helping others.”

And finally, my advice was…

“bina apne matlab ki duniya ki madad karo, kaafi swad aaega”

N/ Naman hit a personal money milestone.
Super happy about it!
More on it on my echochamber

M/ Other things that I want to capture but I may not spill too many words…
Not too many things to be honest. I have actually covered most of those in the text above!

Phew that was a lot for the week.

🧠 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.

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

  1. Health
    • Kitchen setup
    • Gym membership
  2. C4E
    • C4E Base
    • Design
    • Borderless agency / Upwork
  3. 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?

Action.

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

—

Ok!
This is it for the week gone by. Late by a day. But it’s here. Yay!
Lemme know what you think.
See you around.

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

PPS: This week, thankfully, I maintained a note where I would keep dumping things that I want to capture in my weekly note. I loved being mindful about this habit. I will continue with it.

Wk 12-25 – Weekly Notes

Notes and thoughts from Week 12, 2025

Here are notes from week 12 of 2025.

I am in Delhi. And unlike other Delhi trips, I was mostly homebound. I didn’t step out as much as I do on other trips. I did meet a few people. I went for a walk with Kunal. And then some. But more or less I was home.

Oh, and I took easy this week. I didnt invest too much time or effort in trying to meet people. I have this new found policy – I will match the effort you make to be around me. In case I REALLY need you, want you etc, I will make extra effort. But more often than not I’ve realised that I don’t need to go out of my way. For example, this person – I call her THE ABSOLUTE BEST hire for C4E that we will never be able to hire – I’ve been trying to meet her for 6 months. And each time I am in Delhi, she’s one of the first people I text. And each time, something or the other happens at her end and we dont meet. This time, I decided to not bother. I know my loss but ek nahi to koi aur sahi. I can’t spend my life waiting for one person to show up. And thus I am gonna choose people who choose me. Simple.

PS: Am I wrong? PLEASE do let me know.

And with that rant, moving onto the review.

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

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

I didnt make any progress on either. No, I didnt not think about them – just that the laziness of being in Delhi and lot of action on the work front had the better of me.

And no, I am not giving up on either. I will revisit these at some time. Book 2 is easy. Thanks to Bri and Claude, I am ok on that. I spend enough time talking about it, thinking about it that I am confident that it would happen this year. I wanted to push the first draft by end of Mar. That may still happen if I can find time once I am back in Bom. If not that, then by 15th April for sure.

On the 2025 plan, I am not so confident. But I will make it happen eventually.

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.

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

Health – I was home for the large part of the week. And that means I ate home cooked food. I still feel bloated and I get sleepy right after I eat but at least my sleep is better. Once I am back in Mumbai (on Monday), I will work towards building my kitchen. I am also gonna invest in health (gym etc). I wrote about it last week. I just need to action it. So yay!
I will give myself a 0 on this.

Meru – Regular work. Some products are close to seeing the MVP ready stage. We are moving with hiring. And some more action.
I will give myself a 0 on this.

C4E – Nothing much. Actually -1 on this. Reasons beyond this blog.
So -1

Brand SG – Nothing on this either.
Again, -1.

People – I loved the people I met while I was in Delhi. Plus thanks to Meru, I am meeting more people.
So, +1 on this.

Book 2 – Didnt write as much but I did move the needle.
However, I will give myself a 0.

Shauk – Nothing on this. The list of open projects is long – Madhushala, Aakanksha, Network School (:(), Poker, Optimist Manifesto and many many more.
Another -1

So the overall score is -3 for this week.
Trends from the pevious weeks: -2, -1

The max I can get is 7 in a week. Let’s see when I get to it.
Added this to my tracker too.

📊 The tracker from the last week

Here’s the tracker.

I love all the green on sleep hours and recovery.

I think the two of these things are good because I am eating better. Even though I am walking less than average, I am still ok. Guess its the food.

The other highlight is that I am unable to track money when I am home. Even though, this Delhi trip I stepped out far less than I would normally do, I did spend money and yet I didnt track it.

My emotions have been suprisingly in check. For all the hatred that I give to delhi, I am amazed that the things I track are actually, on track!

📷 Some Photos from the week gone by

Here are some photos from the week gone by.
Not too many. I told ya that whne I am in Delhi, my productivity goes for a toss.

Do lemme know which one you thought was the best.

📖 Interesting Reads from the last week

Not too many. Just one. Even though I have nothing, I dont want to remove this section.

  1. The Techno-Optimist Manifesto. Here.
  2. Self promotion – Wrote this. Also, updated the contact page.

💭 Highlights, reflections and notes from the week.

Here are some from this week.

A/ Ayush (from Notice)
Met Ayush. He’s the founder of Notice. He’s 24 and WHAT A GUY! I wish I had his brains and talent at that age. I want to do something with him. I dont know what. But parking it here.

B/ SoG 2025
I met a few bright people while I was in Delhi. I plan to bind them in a group or something. And I want to call it SoG 2025.

Unlike other SoG cohorts, I am trying this one to have “older” folks (people who are ~25) and push each of those to make 10X than what they make right now. For example, if I could help Ayush scale Notice 10X? Assuming, he’d want to work with me.

To be honest, I am little out of my depth here but what’s the point of life if we don’t try?

This is in continuation to what I wrote last week about how I want to spend my time and money here.

Coming back.

I made a post on twitter / linkedin asking people to nominate themselves. I’ve got a few replies. Let’s see what I do with it.

Oh, and if you are reading this and you have folks to recommend, please lemme know. I really can make a LOT of difference to lives of people.

C/ What did you get done in last week?
Since the Elon tweet and now with Meru, I am learning an incredible lesson. That things need to move week on week. And they need to be tangible. And we need to be high-agency AF.

And thus I am implementing this across my life. And I will implement this across all the things I do. If you are not high-agency, I dont want you around me. Simple.

D/ Ek Aur Panna
I decided to write off one more friend from my life. I wont talk more about it here but I am unable to operate when I am not treated with kindness. And this is when I’ve invested time, energy and effort into helping you build you life. Pavithra taught my recently that I shouldnt look at things in terms of a transaction but I dont want to be in rooms where I am not respected.

I will choose to be kind, polite, supportive and all that but if you cant treat me well, you could be whoever, I am out.

Also, I need to think – if I am the one who’s writing off people at this speed, will I ever have friends and family left when I am old?

Also, if you are reading this, is this my Ego at play? Help please!

E/ Home
I have made a decision that each month I will come home for a week.

It will mess with work and health and money and all that but I will. In fact, I will book tickets in advance (I cant book them right now – haath thoda tang hai) but I will book these. Till I have enough money to get my parents to move to Mumbai.

F/ Founder Brand
Met this young founder who thinks that building a founder brand will sell his products. I had to tell him to not ape others blindly. While founder brand is an important thing, it can’t be THE only thing! May be I will record a podcast on this. CC AK. Idea for the next episode.

G/ The head in the ass behaviour of someone I respect
Again, related to D above, yet another gent seems to have gotten so big that he’s got his head up his backside. This one is from MDI and is a self-appointed leader of a random group. I dont know what happens to people when they grow big!

Also, my decision on D above, is it because I have my head in my ass?

H/ SG Helps on Marketing
Thanks to this tweet, a couple of people filled in the form. And I spoke to one of those. And again, I was blown by the talent of that person. I think I have stumbled on to something interesting with it. Must find a way to scale it.

I / Dubai
I seem to have trained the algo on Insta on Dubai.

And I know that at least for the foreseeable future, Dubai is not happening. So I need to retrain my algo. Having said that, I want C to continue to focus on building C4E to be a borderless business (even though the world we live in seems to closing with each passing day). Dunno what she wants. I will not push her and let things take their course.

J/ C4E…
…is closing the year with a flat line compared to last year (no growth, no degrowth) in terms of topline and profits.

Not a good news. I was supposed to do 40 crores of topline this year. TBH, we would have been 2X last year if not for the bad last few months.

Again, on this, I want Chandni to write an annual report for all our stakeholders. Again, her wish if she wants to.

K/ Workshop on Taste.
Manas would’ve taken the workshop on Saturday. I was unable to attend (cos am in Delhi). Hope people would have had fun!

To be honest, I am not sure if I like that I am missing all these bombs that we are planting at C4E. I do these becuase I like to do things but if I am not there, then what? But I jknow that I need to focus on buliding Meru to be able to have more.

Sigh!

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

  1. Lesson on tipping from HT. I will ensure that I will tip EACH place I am at. I know I dont have enough but I will ensure that whatever I have gets distributed well.
  2. Wall of Portfolios is an incredible idea that I wish I had built! I will reach out to each person on that wall and try to make friends.
  3. Booked a wrong flight. I typically don’t make mistakes with these things but I did. And thus this needs to be captured. 
  4. Worked from a McD for three days last week. My soul is crying. 😀 
  5. Had Wai Wai Sadako at Yeti. Loved it. Been in love with it since I went to EBC.
  6. Met friends from childhood – Monu, Kunal. I wish I could live around them. But life has happened. I was reading something that says more than 95% people still live in / around the same pincode where they were born! 

🧠 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.

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

  1. Health
    • Kitchen setup
    • Gym membership
  2. C4E
    • C4E Base
    • Design
    • Borderless agency / Upwork
  3. 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?

Survive.

No large, deep thoughts. Just plain old being.

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

—

Ok!
This is it for the week gone by. Late by a day. But it’s here. Yay!
Lemme know what you think.
See you around.

PPS: 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

Hello 41!

Here are some thoughts about things that I want to prioritise and focus on as I turn 41 years old.

Now that am just a year away from finding the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything, here are a few things that I would do with whatever time I’ve left.

Starting today.

These are not in any order.

1/ Get more anal about my time.

Truth be told, I am very very particular about how I spend my time. With less and less time available to me here, I would become even more particular about how I spend my time. If I can, I would outsource, delegate, or defer things that I think do not deserve my time.

I would spend most of my time with people who love me (parents, M&m, friends, etc.), people who helped me when I needed help (way too many to list here), people who I work with (in my case a lot of people I work with are the people that love me and vice versa). In that order.

And then if there’s time left, I would think of other things.

2/ Make fitness my #2 priority after time.

This has been a goal since I can remember. And I have failed at it consistently. I recently weighed myself. I am 93 KGs (even though I am 35 inches around my waist). I think my body is dense (which is a good thing) but I need to find a way to get healthier. I do not want to wither away. I do not want to be a vegetable. I definitely do not want to be a burden. So that.

I know I have been gloriously lazy about this. I know I can’t work out (hernia and ankles and extended tailbone and all that) but I can definitely do yoga. I need to find some classes. I don’t think I have the motivation to do it at home with a remote teacher. Now that I “live” in Andheri West, I am sure I can find something that I can walk to. And since I can choose how I spend my time (see #1), I should be able to get that going. This is to happen from 2nd Oct (once am back in India). And then once I get regular at it, I will try to learn swimming (will have to quit Yoga to move to a place that has a pool (Wadhwa)).

While I do this, I will fix my food. I don’t have an option to cook but I know I can spend money to find a way to eat better. Oh, and 8 hour sleep.

3/ Become high-agency.

This one is simple. This thread explains what’s high-agency. Do read this. I read this often. I read it again while writing this piece.

I think I am already high-agency.

I would go higher, and become even more high-agency. Till the time I am the man on a mission and trying to close as many things as I can.

3.1/ I will become a closer. I realize that I am not one. I am at best a thrower of multiple darts, hoping one would hit the bull’s eye. I would create a deliberate life. For myself and the ones around me.

4/ I will travel as much as I can.

I have come to realize that I miss travel. I would thus not leave any opportunity to hop onto a plane, a train, or a car.

No bus. Lol.

5/ I will identify a thing that could become my life’s mission.

At this point in time, SoG looks like it.

I will spend a large chunk of time on making it substantial and larger than me or any one individual. Read this and this. I am sure I’ve written more about this in more places as well. Will compile those.

6/ I will close all windows before I sleep. Each day.

See this for context. This means I will return all phone calls, overcommunicate, and close loops on each open thing. I would also endeavor to respond to emails within 24 hours. If not action, I will make the other side aware of the action. The world runs on tacit agreements, assumptions, social norms, and expected conduct from people at large. I would become the torchbearer of great behavior when it comes to being prompt.

The Closure

7/ I will try and learn new things.

I have been fiddling with a guitar and a uke for a while. I have been tinkering with Webflow for the last few days. While I worked on webflow, I realised that I am my joyous best when I am learning new things. Webflow is the right thing for someone like me – not very tough, not very easy, doesnt require any foundational knowledge to build on top of, its simple HTML and CSS on steriods (something that I am aware of already). So that.

So, yeah! That’s about it.
Over and out. Time to get serious about time.

Gratitude,
SG

PS: I wanted this list to have 41 bullet points. You know, 41 for 41. Just like I made 40 things for the 40s. But then I couldn’t think of more. If you know me and you think you want to help me become better, please do recommend more things that I could do with whatever time I have left here. And no, I have not forgotten those 40 things that I need to do in the next 9 years.

40 things for the 40s

PPS: Of course, I have come to accept that I may not be as big a deal as I had imagined I would be when I was a child. And I know that I would probably never be like Steve or Paul or any of those people (see this TED talk). But I know that I can be like a Drona. I wrote about this this week only. Maybe I need to take one more shot before I hang my boots?

PPPS: I just uploaded my will. Do make one for yourself. It’s a very sobering and humbling exercise!