Kunal Shah Archives

Wk 42-25 – Weekly Notes

Updates from Week 41 and 42 of 2025.

5:30 PM. Oct 18, 2025, Starbucks, Versova.
6:40 AM. Oct 19, 2025, Mumbai Airport.
6:30 PM. Oct 19, 2025, Home (DG).

So, I am back to writing these notes after a week.

The last two weeks have not been the best and I a lot of it was things that I couldnt control. The good part is that I was travelling and I was reading (I read Morgan Housel’s new book; more on that later). And thus I was ok.

I think there’s a lot to unpack today. So, lets get going.

💭 Highlights, reflections and notes from the past week

PS: As always, these are not in any order.

A/ Most thanked person in Oscar Acceptance Speeches
I was talking to AD and someone else and I happened to mention that one of the lifegoals is to impact lives of so many people at such large level that I get to compete with Steven.

For context, Steven Spielberg is THE most thanked person at the Oscars.

Spielberg is THE most thanked person in Oscar acceptance speeches.

I would love to be in this club some day! I mean can you imagine the effort and the hard work it would’ve taken for a Steven to have these many people in gratitude?

Oh, and apart from just this, I would like to be in the acknowledgements page of books and biographies. So far, I am in a few and I would want to have chapters dedicated in there. And no, the point is not a shot at legacy or immortality, but at enabling more people do more.

And this reminds me of another tweet that I saw…

Tweets from MJS’ handle delete and thus had to take a screenshot.

Peter Keating anyone? SoG?

B/ Postcard Club.
Another idea from Thej that I am stealing.
Read his post here.

The premise is simple. I will send postcards, with stamps and all that to folks who opt-in to receive it. And at some point in time, I would invite other folks to send postcards to more people. And then we shall see where it goes.

Here are the first two postcards I sent.

In case you want to be a part of this club, DM me. And disclaimer – like most things that I think a lot about, there are no guarantees that I will do this.

C/ Morgan Housel’s Art of Spending Money
Read this book over the last few days.

Way too many notes.
Underlined a large part of the book.

A lot of what I read, I knew that already but there was a lot of reaffirmation and at times that’s the value of what you read. And since a lot of words were clustered together in the book and I was in the thinking zone, the reading was even more impactful. I think thats the point of reading books. Dense content about one topic. And reinforcement of the same via multiple examples and stories and chapters.

I think I will write an entire post on this, assuming I get time. I even did a YT live today. Not so happy but I did it and here it is.

On the live, at the peak, I 6 people joining in. At some point, I want to have a lot more people listening in. Not because I crave for an audience but because I want a platform large enough for me to have a large impact in life.

D/ 43
The other day, someone asked they wanted to create a meetup of young people. And I commented on it and said, if 43-year olds are allowed and young at heart are welcome I would love to be in.

Right after I posted this, I feel awkward and weird and sad. It sucked that I am having to justify that age is a number. I think it’s about time I accept that I am a never-was.

So that!

E/ AI Film Festival
Some kids are doing this AI Film Festival in Mumbai.
And wow.
Many emotions.
Here’s a list.

We had the same idea at C4E but we couldn’t do it. This is nothing but a slap on the face. I need to build a stronger muscle for action. Plus I need to inspire my people to do more. And do so faster. And ensure that we followup on action. And I want to encourage them to think larger. Each thing we start, we start with a small vision. I encourage that. And I want to change it.
I love the fact that AI is democratizing otherwise gatekept industries. Of course incumbents will catch up and bring things back to the mud but some new folks will arrive, shine and make hay!
My bachpan ka want of making films resurfaced. I made attempts with Red Carbon. But I was unable to sustain the partnership. I was very very hopeful when we did the tnks trailer. But I was unable to inspire my people to actually do. Maybe I should start taking matters and things in my own hands and being a pesky boss?
Glad that someone is doing it. Even better that young people. More power to them and other young folks. I am so very often reminded that so many young people are so fearless and so action oriented and so resourceful that I am often left ashamed and gawking at their greatness. Must surround myself with more young people.

F/ Updated the Vision Board
Here.
Not open for public access.
Made update in the Wheel of Life and while I did that, I realised that this is the tiniest I’ve been in my life!

Here’s the template that you may want to use to fill yours.

G/ Made a list of Regrets in life. Here.
This is WIP at this time.
Will evolve this as I go along.

The idea is that I want to live an open life and I want to not hide anything about myself from anyone at anytime. And this must include the goods and the bads, and the highs and the lows, the wins and the losses and everything in the middle.

H/ Theatre
One of the things I really enjoy in life, is, to indulge in theatre. You know, live performances.

While I love the feeling sitting face to face with the performers, I dont understand why the theatre artists invest their time and energy in theatre. Each ticket is like 200 bucks and even on great days, you hardly get some 100 people in the audience. So, a crew of 10 will make like 20K per show. And if they were to divide all the money between them (not even the expenses), they would get like 2K per day. And it’s pittance!

I dont get why people so this.

I asked some of my friends. And the answers weren’t very convincing. There are two plausible ones.

Someone mentioned that its the pitstop needed to get to Bollywood. But even in that, the possibility of a great outcome is like negligible. The returns are way too asymmetric to be logical about it!

Someone else mentioned that its the way of life and the purest artwork there is. Again, I am not convinced about that. I am sure there are other means to feel alive?

Neither is convincing enough to me. Any clues?

I/ Focus
One of these days, on my way back from Starbucks, I was walking with C and we were reflecting about life and all.

I popped a question.

If I were to look at 100 of the most successful people in the world and we listed top 5 traits that they had, at the most I will get a list of 500 traits and if there is a perfect overlap of traits, I would have 5 traits only.

I asked some LLMs about and this is what they had to say. So, lets say there are 20 traits that are shared by a lot of successful people.

Here is a list I made (a combination of what I learnt from AI and from my intuition).

I can say with a large certainty, that the list of traits would have things like hard work, ambition, focus, creativity, persuasion, discipline, growth mindset, perseverance, people skills, confidence, self-belief, humility and all that.

And then I said to myself, I seem to have almost ALL of these and yet I am not even a mild success. I even tweeted about it.

I could make a mental nod against each thing and I could demonstrate actions and all against each. Except one.

Focus.

I’ve been told since I was child that I am way too all over the place and I need to focus. And I have strongly objected to any sort of focus ever. I have laughed at people who’ve told me to focus. I have even blamed it on my undetected ADHD.

And maybe, just maybe, I will focus on focus!

Lol!

So, may be, I will focus and see what I would achieve if I did one thing for one year.

PS: The effort on Meru has been as focussed as they come – I have not thought about anything else since late last year. While it is not yet any close to success but thanks to HT, MK, KP, VS and others, I am certain that it would be LARGE!

Bonus: Here’s my library of quotes around focus.

Bonus 2: Here’s a list of my values, as suggested by friends and others.

Bonus 3: Another tweet from a D2C founder.

J/ Self Cringe
Riya has been working hard to help me build distribution. And its incredible how much effort that young girl is putting! I am beyond inspired! Yet another case of young people doing superhuman things that make you wide eyed!

The only trouble is, I get cringed out each time I see myself.

For starters, I don’t like to see my face. And then a deeper reason – I’ve not done anything large or substantial to be able to give gyaan to people. Plus I am making tall promises to “teach” people to do more. I am not sure if this is correct!

K/ Mahabharata Series has crossed 25 posts
A few days ago, I promised that I will write a post a day on linkedin. And I thought it would be a good idea to write about management lesson from Mahabharata. It would kill many birds.

Some are…

I would get to explore Mahabharata as a subject. I love it and this will force me to carve time to read more, discuss more and think more.
I will get the daily writing Riyaaz.
I will get to build my distribution on linkedin – something that I’ve thought a lot about.
I will meet more people via this.

And somehow, I’ve been very very consistent with it. Yesterday I posted the 26th update. This link has all posts.

But, the series is not performing well. I have not seen a bumper jump in my followers. There are hardly any comments or shares. I havent made new connections.

Maybe I need to accept that I dont write well?

L/ SG’s Patrons. AKA LifeIPO
I’ve been thinking about Patrons and 1000 True Fans. And I think I am ready to take the experiment to the next stage. See this tweet.

A few weeks ago, I asked for 1000 bucks a month, in exchange of gratitude. I got two subscribers (Prak and Shruti). Now I want to offer a 1% of my life for 10 lakhs. You pay me 10 lakhs to get one share of my life (there are a total of 100 shares outstanding) and you get 1% of my time here on (you must use it yearly) and 1% of my future earnings and assets. Imagine if I become a billionaire, your 1% could be worth 10 million.

Think of this as any startup raising money. You have an idea. You peg that idea to a value. Then you add execution risk on top of it. And then you invest in the idea. That!

I am yet to get into specifics (risks, reputation, relationships, liquidity, legality etc) but I am warming up to the idea.

What do you think?

M/ Grok’s interpretation of my content
I asked Gork to analyse my recent tweets. This is what it had to say.

I love how we can use these tools to spot patterns. Over the next few days I want to use more tools to discover more about me. At some point in time I want to explore the possibility of having my second brain uploaded on the internet and then analyse data from there on.

N/ Goa
I was in Goa almost after a year. This time around, I spent more time going out to the temples, local beaches, eating at vegetarian restaurants, and all that. I didnt do any of my regular things. And that made me realise a few things. Here’s a list.

I love modern conveniences and comforts. And this means I would want to be at places that have reliable connectivity, fast internet, public transport, high-trust economy and a density of great talent.
I am not a naturist. I do not get excited by beaches or greens or mountains or anything like that. If need be, I would like to be in not so extreme weathers.
I love vibrance around me. So, I can not be at a place that is secluded.
I am an early bird. I love places that are open early. Once Mumbai starts 24X7 operations, I will find cafes that are open at 430 AM and make them into my havens.

As I start to think about where I want to live, these things are at the top of my head!

O/ Fear of Flying
I would have taken at least 500 flights in life, if not 1000. And I’ve taken them in all sorts of planes (including helicopters) for all sorts of durations (from 30 minutes to 14 hours) and since 2005 (I think my first flight was from Del to Blr, though I am not sure). And I’ve experienced all kinds of turbulence and even air pockets. Though I’ve never had oxygen masks deployed and I have never been on slides.

And I have not been afraid ever. In fact, I would find excuses to get onto flights to give people hugs!

However, lately, I am afraid to fly. What if the plane goes down? I know the odds of that are a one in a million or whatever but when that one occurrence happens, the loss is 100%!

I am afraid that if that happens, it would be such a colossal waste of life and a stupid way to go! I anyway have mixed feelings towards the concept of death (I know its important but I dont get the reason why we spend so much time and effort and energy to learn things and then when the times comes to capitalise on it and be of service to the world, your time is almost up).

Ok, I digressed. The point is, I have this thing deep in the pit of my stomach or conscious or whatever each time I have to fly. And this is a new feeling! And no, I don’t enjoy this. I have wanted to live my life free of fear. And in chase of excitement and adventure. This fear bit is not core to my identity! And I need to work on it and change it.

PS: I am writing this from a comfortable, business class seat of a fairly new Air India plane and from my seat I saw that there are three pilots in the cockpit – all three fit and alert and had their spines straight, including the lady who’s the captain on this flight. So, I am hopefully safe on this one!

I had imagined I would have a lot more to write. But clearly I dont.

📷 Some Photos from the week gone by

Some photos that I took and saved in the last two weeks are here. And if I had to pick one, I would say, this would be it…

I was in Goa and sent this postcard to AK and C. Will start a postcard club soon!

Show me some of your photos?

🈺 LARGE objective from the week gone by?

I had two large things when I started this year. Book 2 and a yearly plan (that I’ve been writing for a long time. This year I couldn’t). And I just added health a few weeks ago.

Book 2 – There was no movement.
Nothing to report.

Yearly Plan – I dropped it long ago.
Now its time to think about the plan for the next year. Lol.

Health – I have made small changes in how I eat and what I eat. I am also walking more. I did some 5 pushups a couple of days. I now take stairs. Small steps. Nothing large. But I remain committed. I will ensure that come November, I am a gym and I am running.

PS: I track my health updates here, in case.

☑️ So, what did I get done last 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.

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

Health. Was a bad one. All over the place. Not just the physical health but also mental health. So, a -1.

Meru. Incredible progress. LOVE the hard work being put in by all the people. I wish I knew this team earlier. Most days I am left in awe of all that we do, despite everything. Oh, still no launch. And thus a 0.

C4E. No action from my side. No comments. A 0.

Brand SG. Riya has been shipping consistently. I am not sure I like how things are going out. I would let that continue till end of this month. And then take a call. I would give this a +1. Only because of Riya.

People. No action on this. 0.

Book 2. Nothing. -1.

Shauk. No action. No time. But not beating myself over it. So, 0.

So the overall score for the week is -1

Few weeks ago, I had decided that I want to get a positive score each week. I had to organise my life but I havent been able to. I will try in the coming week. Will report once I do.

📊 The tracker from the last week

Here is the tracker for the last two weeks…

The last two weeks have been tough. And I have fallen off the radar. I am not keeping up on what I am eating, neither am I being good when it comes to tracking. I am on the road next week as well. And I expect similar all-over-the-place-ness.

🏃🏻‍♂️‍➡️ Health

I added Health as a key section some days ago. I am still discovering what to cover here. Let’s see how it goes.

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. Also, I log a few things at these links – food log, my daily health log channel.

This week, I am skipping reporting on this as for the last two weeks, this has been all over the place.

Will get back to this after the Diwali week.

📖 Interesting Reads / Views

Since this is for two weeks, I have a LOT of links to share. I am thinking how to fit all these here and make things useful. Lemme try.

And no, not in any order.

1/ This is an incredible read. Titled, “Taylor Swift, Sora, and Slop vs. Substance”, I dont want to give you a TLDR on this one (hint, it talks of Taste as well). Touches many interesting facets.

2/ This piece from Finshots talks about how and why Rakesh Gangwal chose to step away from Indigo. Must read how people still stand for principles in this day and age. While on this, also read this piece on the friendship of the two founders.

3/ Harnidh is soon evolving into my favorite Internet writer. She wrote about PR-FAQ. Incredible read. Here.

4/ This piece about Prashant Kishore tells me that he charges 11 crores for 2 hours. I refuse to believe that he added that much value!

5/ This document talks about maxims from Kunal Shah. Which is your favorite?

6/ One of the BEST investigative reads that I’ve read in a while. I think I would love to build something GFM once I get to a point when I have enough. Do read.

7/ This piece from New Yorker talks about how all of us have started to think the same. Prak would love this piece. This is also the reason why all apps seems to look similar (have you noticed those purple websites?) and there is this insane use of em-dashes?

8/ Kevin Kelly, in yet another incredible essay makes a very convincing argument on why he wants AI to read his books. Read here.

9/ Kuldeep (or KD, as he is known all over the internet) wrote about the history of Whatsapp. Incredible read. He writes so well that I want to get him to quit everything and and just write! Another bonus read from him is this.

10/ This ad by Apple caught my eye. To a point that I want to embed this here.

11/ This hierarchy of “traits” of a top-performer is incredible. Do see.

12/ This piece about impatience and sense of urgency. I’ve read so much about this that I dont know how to not work at speed. And yet…

13/ Each thing from Ashutosh Rana, I dig! In this video, he talks about what made him do things that he did. I wish I had more folks who would listen to me. And I need to find a way to meet more young people.

There was a time when I would get a lot of people write into me. Lately that flow has died. And I need to restart that. Somehow.

Do see this.

14/ This piece by the creator of Oatmeal about AI and Art. Very very interesting read. He says, “consuming AI art is like eating styrofoam”. He goes onto make a lot of more convincing arguments about how and why AI is good or bad.

15/ If you are young, in your 20s, this piece of advice by the CEO of Palantir is incredible. Read here.

He says,

I’ve never met someone successful who had a great social life at 20. If that’s what you want, that’s great. But you’re not going to be successful, and don’t blame anyone else.

I cant say I agree to this (who am I to agree – I am not successful)

16/ This intro of Steve. Uff. Here.

imagine having an introduction like this pic.twitter.com/3hsf39LQvc
— amrit (@amritwt) September 27, 2025

17/ This post about what makes YC, YC.
For all the hate it gets, I love that they’ve been able to institutionalize starting up. I would love to go thru it. I mean I may not be able to anymore, age is not on my side. But I love them and their impact.

18/ This piece by Karthik about the public outcry from the founder of LuluLemon (Chip Wilson) about how that company has lost direction is a must read.

19/ I’ve been thinking a lot about Punit Pania and his work. Saw this insta reel and had to share.

Phew!

I am left wondering, what is the point of all these links. I get like three people to read these. Unless I find a way to internalise these. No?

🧠 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.

I’ve been skipping this for a while now.
Lets see when I get back to this.

🥡 So, one thing that defines the past week?

Unsettling.

There is no other word that I would use for the two weeks gone by. Close people have quit on me, I have fallen off the grid, I am not taking notes, not reflecting on life and things, money seems to be a problem, fitness is a problem. I mean, each thing that I can think of seems to be not working for me!

I hope I am back in black soon.

Oh and in the previous weeks, the one-word reviews have been… Regular, Grind, Sad, Tough, Routine, Routine, Busy, Grind, Blur, Stress, Numb, Blur, Fast, Uncool, Disappeared, Experience, Grind, Busy for Nothing, Regular, Getting back to action, Slack, Busyness, Action, Survive, Looking Up, Survival, Taste, Community, Respect, Money, People.

—
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.

The previous editions are here: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40

I’ve missed the following weeks: 9, 15, 17, 22, 24, 41

PPS: Please do point typos.
Grammarly is not working with WordPress and I don’t have energy to cut paste edit this in some other spell check thing.

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

Wk 32-25 – Weekly Notes

Notes, thoughts, reflections and more from Week 32 of 2025. By Saurabh Garg.

Hello!
9 AM (of Sunday)
Versova Starbucks.
Finishing this post at 9 AM on Monday, the 11th August.

So, today, I am gonna make protein bars for myself. Yes, I wanna start with this. And this is monumental. For many reasons. For starters, I dont like my kitchen being used for cooking. I cant live with the mess it makes. And then second, I’ve always felt that cooking is a waste of time. And thanks to folks at FOXO, I am more mindful. And thanks to Abhinav, am walking!

Update from the morning of 11th – AK and I did it. More about it in the next week. Also from here on, I will go back to assuming that I am writing this on Sunday.

And as I write this, I am listening to this on loop. The mixing on this one is da bomb!

I wish I could rap. I loved a lot of Gully Boy (ya ya, the rap purists, please dont come at me). And understand more raps. And probably write it. And probably perform it. Sigh.

Ok, let’s go.

💭 Highlights, reflections and notes from the past week

PS: As always, these are not in any order.

A/ Overthinker and Overcommunicator
I am the last person to ever give advice on relationships but I have a strong belief that an overthinker must be with an overcommunicator.

Like most things, I would have seen this on some insta reel or something but over time I have come to have a 100% belief in this one. And this is true not just in romantic relationships but also in other places (say, work).

Think about it.

PS: If you are an overthinker, please do see this video and this photo.

B/ Linkedin Amplification #sgSunAmp
Since the last couple of weeks, every Sunday, I’ve been posting a tiny update on my linkedin where I talk about people and projects that more people need to know.

I dont know how long will I continue with this but I want to do whatever I can do to push more people to do more.

Here are those posts – 0, 1, 2 (today).
You can use this link to find other similar posts.

C/ Cheap
Spotted this on twitter.

Love this static ad by Fang oral care. pic.twitter.com/5MNKjDOT9x
— Vinod Chendhil (@vinodchendhil) August 7, 2025

I saw it and I realised that each person in life MUST proudly announce the prices that they will work at. It could be a business, a freelancer, a company, an artist or whatever. But you MUST talk about what you want to charge for your time or services.

And it’s ok to discover that

Also see, E.

D/ Uni-dimentional thinking and life
I was going through the reading list of the week. And I realised that my greatest influences come from tech-bros, startup folks, business leaders, hyper-successful businesspeople, famous artists and others of the ilk.

While there is nothing wrong with this, I would love to get more variety. I dont know where to look and what to do. Any inputs?

E/ Hiring process
Prak posted this on her linkedin. Very very pertinent. And I have a lot of thoughts. I even went out of character and made a comment. I am willing to die on the hill that till you build a fanbase (or 1000 true fans), you will HAVE to bow down to CV, assignments, in-human things etc etc.

Also, this post from Prak made me realise a few things. Here’s a list.

I must write more. I struggled to articulate my thoughts in 1250 characters. This can only get better if I write more.
I must work harder on my personal brand. And each person I know has to do the same. If you do, you will probably not need to take up assignments. I remember there was a time when I was looking for work and I could say that I dont have a CV. My name is my CV. Everyone else must be in this same boat.
Whole of point D above.
Each person MUST read 1000 True Fans by KK everyday till the idea gets drilled in the head.

F/ SoG
I HAVE TO GET BACK TO THIS.
And I dont know how.
Sigh.

G/ Bad News ASAP
I learnt this at Meru.

If things are going ok or going well, I dont need to be informed. But if there’s bad news, I want to be informed as soon as possible.

For many reasons. These are personal (not Meru’s).

I can plan for contingency.
Same as 1 but if I know the bad news, I can try and figure the repercussions and prevent the next-order effects.

Also, most people dont like surprises because they dont know how they react to bad ones. I am ok in this department tbh. I continue to operate from problem-solution-action triad.

And to be able to do this, I know I must give enough comfort to the ones around me that the bearer of the bad news will not be shot at!

So if you work with me, always give me the bad news first.

H/ Ask for EXACT timelines.
This is the second lesson from Meru in the last week.

When someone says they would work on something for you, you MUST request for an EXACT timeline (and not a vague “next week”). I was practising this already in life, but thanks to time spent at Meru, this has become a second nature. Must do this more often.

I/ Futility of action.
See this.

The biggest lesson from this one is that while there is merit and effort and pain and reward in the action, the end result is often… nothing. It’s the act that is important.

Reminds me of Naval where he talked about how all you have is your present and intention. And everything else is immaterial.

Also reminds me of a question that Dr H and C asked me. Here’s my attempt to rearticulate. While I am eternal optimist and long on hope, how do I remain divinely discontent?

The answer is simple. On a day to day basis, I spend my time and attention and intention of the task at hand. And while I do that, each day has to nudge me towards getting better.

J/ Feedback and change.
Lesson three this week from Meru. When you give input to people, do they change and try to implement the feedback?

If they try, they are good people. If they dont, you ought to move on.

To be honest, this is a tough one for me. I’ve lived my life as a people person and this shift to project person is proving to be harder than I had imagined. Even though I have seen mentors, friends, colleagues, clients talk about it. I know everyone says its not personal but I am finding it hard. I know the answers are within and I need to work on myself.

K/ The underachievement mountain at 42
See this tweet.

I will not copy-paste. Just that the meeting made me realise that I seem to be the only one who’s not saved for the rainy day. And if I have only people to show for my life and time here, I need a reality check.

Reminds me of that dialogue from F1 – You are not a “has been”. You are a “never was”.

Oh, the other quote from the film that I love is, “hope is not a strategy”. Must get this tattooed on me. #superQuotes

So this is it.
A lot was unpacked in these words.

📷 Some Photos from the week gone by

Here are some photos from week 32.

The highlight photo has to be…

🈺 The LARGE objective from the week gone by?

I had two large things when I started this year. Book 2 and a yearly plan (that I’ve been writing for a long time. This year I couldnt). Last week I added health. I am moving that section higher as I want that to become the priority as we go along.

Book 2 – no action.

Yearly Plan – I dropped it a few weeks ago.

Health – I have been actually good on this one.
I track my health updates here, in case.

☑️ So, what did I get done last 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.

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

Health. I did ok on most departments except workout.
I need to get going on that.
But I can give myself a 0. Yay!

Meru. Was busy.
No large outcomes to show for. So -1.

C4E. No action from my side. 0.

Brand SG. No action.
And no action does not mean 0. It means a -1.

People. No action on this.
I’d say 0.

Book 2. Lol! -1

Shauk. No action. No time.
And I am not losing sleep over it. So a 0.

So the overall score is -3.
Same as last week. Lol.

📊 The tracker from the last week

Here is the tracker for the week gone by.

Look at those steps!
w00t!

And yes, look at that state of emotion.
Will work towards that.

🏃🏻‍♂️‍➡️ Health

Last week, I added Health as a key section. I am still discovering what to cover here. Let’s see how it goes.

I will start with updates on what am doing for health.

So…

Sleep
Exercise
Diet
Community
Crowdfunding my health.
Movement (this should be part of exercise but I have a separate section)
Meditation
Some links: My food log, my daily health log channel.

Lets go…

1/ Sleep
I am ok on this department. I sleep well. I am trying to make my sleep environment better. I live on the mainroad and thus its very noisy at all hours. I use earplugs when I sleep to drown the noise. I will start using a humidifier. I have an ok mattress.

2/ Exercise
This is my Achilles Heel. I can NOT work out. I will find some alternative.

3/ Diet
This was my second largest problem. But thanks to FOXO and some awareness, I am doing better on this. I choose to avoid bad things. This is getting expensive to be honest but I can optimise other spends and ensure that I only put in good things into my system. I track each thing I eat on my food log.

4/ Community
This is the best across all counts. Even though I have quirks and all that. Dont want to jinx it. Will work hard to preserve it.

5/ Crowdfunding health
I thought hard about it. And I came to the convenient conclusion that the way you support your creator friends with money, commission, work and all that, I want my 1000 true fans to help me get healthy.

And I have two backers already. Both of them have committed 10K for 3 months.

And having said that, I dont want this early support to make me complacent. I want to earn it. And thus I’ve promised that by the time August ends, I would be 89 KGs (I am 91.3 as of today). So lets see.

Oh, I update this daily health log channel.

6/ Movement
I need to join something that makes me move. The week was good in terms of walks. I have averaged 12719 steps! I hope I continue this momentum.

7/ Meditation
I want to restart on this. Lets see when I get to.

Apart from these, I will talk about what I am thinking about.

A/ Mindful Eating
Since I’ve got FOXO membership, I am very mindful of what I eat. I am not perfect but I am better for sure. And I need to do a lot more before I reach my ideal levels. Let’s see when.

B/ Making my own Protein Bar
Along with AK and C, I will make my Protein Bars today. Lets see how that experiment goes. Am doing this because no protein bar in India offers a gluten-free, dairy-free option! Plus it’s been a while since I did something new for the first time!

I will report on how this goes.

Update on Monday, the Aug 11 – we did it! We are taking orders. Shipping free ;P

C/ Money needed to be healthy
I am realising fast that it’s incredibly expensive to try and be healthy.
Must earn more.
Lol!

D/ Whoop Age of 46
So, I am 42. And Whoop tells me that as per that, my age is 46. Not that I didnt know. But seeing this on the app, in front of my eyes was, well, eye-opening.

📖 Interesting Reads / Views from the last week

PS: I had added YT from last week onward. Cos a lot of my “reading” now happens via podcasts / YT videos that I consume while in commute.

Here’s a list of interesting things that caught my eye.

Oh, this week onward, I am making this a tad different. I will also write a tiny note on what am taking away from this piece.

1/ SHL on high-value jobs – here.
My biggest takeaway from this post is that it’s ok to invest time to get the things done if you know you are onto something valuable.

I saw another chart the other day where they talked about how it took Figma 3 years before they had a viable product or something.

2/ Paul’s essay on Persistence.
Spotted this on Vinod Khosla’s X.
I had read it a few months ago and re-reading was so refreshing!

My takeaway?
Dont bet against the Collision Brothers and Sam Altman 😀

Jokes apart, the takeaway is in this line – “The persistent are like boats whose engines can’t be throttled back. The obstinate are like boats whose rudders can’t be turned” and “The persistent are attached to the goal. The obstinate are attached to their ideas about how to reach it.”

3/ Balaji on AI. Here.

A lot to unpack in this seemingly simple list. To be honest, I loved all 10. But points 2 (verification part), 3 (the concept of amplified), 4 and 8 stood out. I specifically want to talk about 4. I am afraid of the time when there are no experts cos all of us will have trained via the LLMs. We are staring at a huge circle jerk!

Oh, point 8 opened my eyes about crypto. I see myself thinking more about it in the weeks to come.

Anyhow.

Let’s see where the future takes us.

4/ Kunal Shah’s Delta 4 Theory. Here.
See this in combination with Brian Chesky’s 10-star Experience video.

Both of them talk about almost the same thing – the importance of building something that the customers brag about.

5/ Tom Goodwin on Longevity. Here.
I dont want to write more – there is enough comments and chatter there.

And here are some links that I havent had the time to think deeply about.

Samarth on Craft vs Cash. Here.
AML’s next in her series of India’s Tier 2 and 3 manufacturing. Here.
This piece on comfort zones. Here.
MFM with Tim. Yet to watch. Here.
How to make friends and… Here.

🧠 Reminders from last week

This section captures things that I want to not forget. I add those to SG’s Office. I will copy paste these week on week and track updates.

Again, skipping this. Will get back to it at an opportune time.

🥡 So, one thing that defines the past week?

Blur.
This is the second time in the recent past when I felt that week went by very fast. So that.

Oh and in the previous weeks, the one-word reviews have been… Stress, Numb, Blur, Fast, Uncool, Disappeared, Experience, Grind, Busy for Nothing, Regular, Getting back to action, Slack, Busyness, Action, Survive, Looking Up, Survival, Taste, Community, Respect, Money, People.

—
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. The previous editions are here: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09 (missed), 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 (missed), 16, 17 (missed), 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 (missed), 23, 24 (missed), 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31

PPS: Please do point typos.
Grammarly is not working well and I don’t have energy to cut paste edit this in some other spell check thing.

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

Wk 20-25 – Weekly Notes

Notes, thoughts, reflections and everything else from Week 20 of 2025.

Adding additional content (Saurabh Garg) for SEO ;P

May 18
6:34 AM

I started writing this yesterday at a Starbucks and then life happened and I moved along. And then I am back in the morning today to get this done. Oh, and I am listening to this as I write this.

Let’s go!

💭 Highlights, reflections and notes from the week.

A/ TDL Accountabiltiy Group
I have joined a WA group of some folks who post their daily todo list. And then at the end of the day, check on things they’ve done. I am starting it today. Made my list. And let’s see where it goes.

Here’s the list from day 1…

B/ Lessons from Hareesh Tibrewala
I will make a seperate page on this, tbh. I get to learn so much from him that I curse myself for not being with him sooner.

Here are some lessons from this week alone…

Any team member, how so ever bad their sitaution be, if they dont contrinbute to the team, they are better removed. Of course you must have empathy and support and everything else. But you need to think team first. This also echos with the idea people vs people people thing that I read elsewhere. Also, see point C.
Ask for accountability. As a leader of a team, my only job is to ask for accountabilility. Everything else follows from there on. All you need to is ask “what” and “why” and enable your people to deliver on those.
Stop sharam. He asked us to focus on the outcome and leave behind the sharam and all that. This also coupled with this video from Gary Vee. Must be more shameless when seeking work. In fact this is one of those earliest things that Suvi taught me – never ask for work from friends and family. And I will have to unlearn it. I will have to learn the skill to seek work. One life, man!

C/ Idea People vs People People
This is the biggest lesson from the week gone by. And thanks to Thej for sharing this link. While the context and meaning is tad different in this piece, I am taking away something else altoghter. Which is as follows.

I know that the world is a tansient place. This too shall pass. And I know that in grand scheme of things, all pursuits are purposeless and with our lifespans in double-digits, whatever we may do, as a collective, will all not amount to much. You know, Pale Blue Dot.

At the same time, I also know that the journey is all we have (thanks, Naval). I thus try to invest all my time, attention and energy in to being present in the phase of journey I am in.

Wait, I am rambled.

The point is, I can either work towards caring for people or for caring for ideas. All my life, I have cared for people, at the risk of reputation, work, money etc. However after I read the post, I have made this mental switch where I will focus on ideas. No, I will not stop caring for people. But I will become a lot more ideas oriented.

D/ Start with Hi
This is the greatest life hack in the world.

All the things you ever want and ever seek are on the other side of a simple hi. If you make a goal to say hi to 10 strnagers everyday, you would be unbeatable. Reminds me of this talk by Jia Jiang.

Thanks to AD for this.

E/ Reflections from a Life Coaching Call
A person from MDI is taking up coaching as a profession. She wanted to complete her hours and to help her, I spoke to her.

While I spoke, a lot of things came out. I am listing those here.

I am in flux. A lot is changing about me – work, age, emotions etc etc
Deep down, I have become a stoic. Mostly. I still have a long way to go.
I am not motivated by money or anything. But by access.
In life, most things happen in tandem. If I am doing well at one part of life, I am doing ok at most parts.

F/ 15504 Steps
I made a bet that I will average 12K steps per day in 2025. As of today (day 137), I have averaged about 7500 steps per day. And if I have to get to an average of 12K, I need to do 15504 everyday for the rest of 228 days of the year.

Looks tough. But I know that we would hit the baarish mausam soon and I am hopeful that would help.

G/ I need a faster laptop
Even though this is a “new” machine (I use a M1 that got for a colleague and I took it from her when she moved on), it has started to give me trouble.

H/ Toughest thing first
I was talking to C abotu something yesterday. I told her that if you have a task list, start with the toughest one (not the longest one). The one that you are dreading the most. Do it. And the dopamine you get from that, take it to the second toughest. And so on and so forth.

I/ 5 pushups
Inspired by Shruti, I did 5 pushups today! If I can do this for a week, I will get into the habit. Someone inspire me!

In fact, I will stay on this thread. This week, I was talking to Mihir about how we need to change our identity as that of a “healthy person” and then build a life around it. And then I reaslied that it may be easier said than done.

I am gonna make tiny changes in the way I operate. And that means I will not eat anything crappy and I will walk (lol) and I will be more disciplined with food and I…

Lol!

J/ Parallels between C4E and CS
Yesterday, I recorded a solocast and I drew parallels between CS and C4E. Ambition, Aim, Resources, Team, Strategy, Execution and all that. And I realisesd that sports team, armies, event teams etc etc can become very effective tools to deliver lessons to people.

K/ Excuse as a roadblock
One of the biggest lessons I “gave” out to NG and VM is that they need to stop hiding behind an excuse.

Heres the back story…

I gave them a small project to work on, and when they were working on it, they came back to me saying they didn’t have the footage for that product. They told me this after 3 days, and it took me 3 days to know that the project is not moving forward.

Essentially, they were hiding behind an excuse to get their work done. Which is not something that we can live with because we are a small company. In life, I think we could either have excuses or progress.

L/ C4E – Past.
While wandering thru Roam, was looking at my notes and spotted this email I wrote to a friend in 2017 about how I look at C4E as a business. As of today, 8, 9 years have since passed and nothing seems to have changed. Except that we are no longer an events agency. And that’s a good thing and a bad thing! Anyhow, in case you want to read, ask for access.

M/ Here are other things that dont fall in any category.

I am still looking for someone to join me at Meru. See this post. And this one.
The time has come for the kids to go back. I hope they learnt a few things while they were here.
I want to start some mini-IPs that are clones of Sofar Sounds, TED talks, My Next Guest etc.
I am mindfucked with all the garmi all around me and I dont know what do about it.
I see the importance of having a large group of friends – at work and elsewhere. I’ve been shy about it and I want to get good at it. If you are reading this, how do you make new friends? Especially when you are in early 40s.
I want to get memberships at all exclusive and boujee places like Soho, MCA, Quorum etc. I dont know if I will even go to these places but I want to have the option of going!
Made a tiny investment (~1 lakh) in a friend’s startup. Its a tiny number but this is my attempt to show my confidence in the friend.

So that was from the week!
Phew!

📷 Some Photos from the week gone by

Here are some photos from the week 20.

I thought I had clicked a lot more. But clearly I was wrong.

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

2025 Plan and Book 2

I have dropped the plan.

On book2, despite multiple attempts, I’ve not been able to make any progress. And no, I dont want to let go of that. If you are reading this, please stay patient. Let’s see when I am back.

☑️ 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. I’d say I would give myself a 0. I didnt work out but I was mindful of what I ate. The week saw me struggle with garmi but I think I was ok more or less.
So, 0.

Meru. Not so good week. I moved things but I am not happy with the progress. Two critical tasks that I had to do – website and hiring – are open. And that means this was a step back. I will give myself a -1.
So, a -1.

C4E. No action from me. In fact, I saw the team struggling in my absence. C is doing what she can but we are not moving. So another -1.
So, a -1

Brand SG. No action on this either. But some action. So a 0.
0.

People. No action on this. Last week I had a lot of friends and family. This week nothing.
So, a 1

Book 2. Sigh!
-1

Shauk. 0 action. And thus a -1.
So, -1

So the overall score is 0 for this week.

Trends from the previous weeks: -4, 0, -4, -5, -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

Tracked most days! So that’s a win. Here’s the tracker…

Lemme know what you see.

📖 Interesting Reads from the last week

I spent a lot of time reading and reflecting. In fact, I would say that this was a good week when it comes to reading. Here are some pieces…

Utsav on Taste. Link.
Vivek and Molly on People over Ideas.
This conversation between Jony Ive and Collision.
Seth on systems.
The “other” Saurabh Garg on How to Start a Startup.
This post on X that talks about how Qatar happened to become what it has become.
Someone compiled Kunal Shah’s content. Here’s the list. Since this is a compilation, this will not attract as much attention as a scarce piece would. Go figure why!
This thread (old but worth it’s weight).

I had thought I would have more than 8 things to share!

🧠 Reminders from last week

This section captures 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 few weeks that I want to remember. And no, this may not be a comprehensive list. In categories.

Long term
- Professional pool / snooker / poker – no action.
Health
- Kitchen setup (incomplete)
- Gym membership (incomplete)
C4E things (I will stop tracking these things and have C do these)
- C4E Base
- Design
- Borderless agency
- Adding films
Shauk / Personal
- Use of money to buy time – on this!
- Better dressed – lol
- Find love – lol!
- Demand more from life
- Speak better!

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

🥡 So, one thing that defines the past week?

Regular.
It was a regular week with regular work and regular things and regular inputs and outputs.

Oh and in the previous weeks, it’s been Getting back to action. Slack, Busyness, Action, Survive, Looking Up, Survival, Taste, Community, Respect, Money, People.

—
Phew!
Lemme know what you think.
See you around.

Oh, and this too shall pass!

PPS: Please do point typos. Grammarly is not working well and I don’t have energy to cut paste edit this in some other spell check thing.

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

130121 – Morning Pages

Conversations with friends and strangers. About Ikigai, writing, life purpose, success, failure, and more. Oh, and scarcity of time!

7:22. This one should be ok (unlike the last one). I have no pressing agendas today. Just the way I like it!

I think these morning pages have found a rhythm. I talk about what I did the previous day. Pick on a thing from what I spoke about. And then try to think more about it, while I write. And then I write a para for book2. The entire thing takes me about an hour and it is enough to put me in a good mood, to be honest, even if I wake up with a shitty one. In fact, as I type this, I have a smile on my face.

So, lately, I have found comfort in music from Suits. People have made a playlist of tracks from Suits and even though I don’t understand half of those, I love em. In fact, I have been discovering new music here in Goa. Like the other day at a hotel, I heard this track called Jerusalema. Since it was playing on a shitty speaker, I thought it was in Hindi (really) and even when I put my head to it, I could not make it out. And when I Shazam-ed, I realized that it’s in one of African languages!

The other thing was that I got to meet Karl yesterday. He’s been one of those that I look up to in life. He had a couple of interesting things to say about things that I thought i had a deep understanding of.

A, Ikigai. You know, the Japanese concept that helps you find purpose? I thought I knew where I want to (which is to enable and inspire others with what I do and create opportunities for them) but when I was talking to him, I realized that I need to sharpen this. My notions are idealistic (something Rashi also tells me all the time) and are not practical at all. He said (and I agree) that no one would pay me to inspire them unless I become a motivational speaker or something. My personality is anything but that! So, need to think more about that.

B, On account planning and strategy. He said that as a planner you have to get into execution as often you get sucked into Blue Ocean thinking and you don’t know shit about how your strategy is translating into actual work. This is very similar to being a management consultant where you don’t have any skin in the game. Now, I want to be anything but that. So, next time I get a gig, I will try and be a part of actual execution and implementation as well. This is a very very important lesson for me. #sgP1.

The other unintended consequence of my chat with him was that I read that Gaurav Jani passed away last year. I did not know him at all and to be honest, his passing was more news to me than a personal setback. But he has been one of those people that I have been incredibly inspired by since I can remember. When I was young, he did something that I would have, well, killed for. He rode to Ladakh on a bike and made a film about that. All solo. I mean imagine taking shots of your bike, all by yourself. How’d you even do it? And he did all this way back in 2006 when all this was not even known, let alone be cool. Plus there was no ubiquitous Internet, phones, mounts, cameras. I cant even imagine how’d he charge batteries and all that. The dude must have been another level shit.

Lesson? Time is a bitch. You gotta do things now. Err on the side of action. #lifeTheme!

Moving on. On another work call, where I was giving my opinion on how things ought to happen, I was asked to shut cos what I said was in direct contrast to what apparently Kunal Shah, the grand-daddy of all start-ups folks in India, had said. A, if he has said what he apparently said, he needs to be taught. B, even if he said what he said, it may have worked for him but in the specific case, it would never work. You can’t use one-size-fits-all with startups. Of course, this is not about him. This is about me. The conversation hit me like a tight slap on my face that you could be the most educated, well-read, opinionated, caring person in the room but unless you have tangible success to show for, no one gives a fuck about what you have to say. Your opinions are not important. They are invalid. You are asked questions that, well, question your credibility.

No this is not the first time something like this has happened to me. But thank God it happened. I am inspired. Need these bouts often. In fact, I am so so so much inspired to create a fucking massive success that when someone asks me such questions, I can tell them that I’ve built massive shit and they are fuck off.

I know revenge and being sore is not a good emotion (#note2self – Pale Blue Dot, This Too Shall Pass, Seneca’s lessons) but I am human. And I hate when people I care for do this to me.

Anyhow. I think I am ok now. Last evening I was seething in anger. To a point that I could not operate. The world thinks that I am a loser and that’s ok. I have no complaints. But when the ones that I am close to think like that and operate from that place, I hate it. Really.

Lemme talk of something good. Spotlight is finally taking shape. We are gunning for the first edition of the event on the 30th. More here. In case you want to pitch your startup to Dr. Malpani, here.

So, today on, thanks to the kick in the butt by Karl and this nameless-faceless person that told me that am useless, I will try to be a lesser loser. I’ll try harder.

The other thing that I want to talk about this party with some strangers that I was in. The host introduced me to some people as a famous author. For some reason, I felt like an imposter. I mean, all I have is one book. That too has failed to make any dent in anyone’s life. The kinder reviews say that it’s average at best. I don’t even want to read honest or negative ones. The second book is nowhere. Been on it for like 10 years and have nothing to show for that. I hated it when I was introduced like that. Yes, please do introduce me as a creative consultant, creative producer, writer (not just of books), marketer, podcaster et al. I am ok with that. But I don’t want to be just a “famous writer”. I want to be the person that tried. Not the person that rests on laurels. That too, not well-defined.

So that’s that for the morning pages.

As I edit, I realise this has become dark and harsh and ranty. But that’s that. The smile on the face of having typed all this is still around. So that’s some comfort.

So, on to #freewriting for book2. So, for this one, I have talked Prak into giving me a prompt every day to get me started with my thinking.

Today’s prompt is…

Red. The color of love and hate. Of life and death. Blood and rivers, hellfire, and heaven song.
– Prakruti Maniar, Jan 2021

Here we go…

Red was a funny choice for the color of the gown that she wore. Even though the host had clearly mentioned that the theme for the evening is white and blue, she wore red. Red stood out. What was supposed to be a party where dreams were to be talked about, futures were to be looked at, she chose Red. The color of love and hate. Of life and death. Blood and rivers, hellfire, and heaven song. She did not choose red on purpose. She did not have a choice. This was the only gown she had that could pass off as a decent dress into the party where the invite cost her a night with that old bastard, Paul. The party has been the talk of the town for a while now and who’s who was expected to be there. Together they were going to plan the future of the sleepy state of Goa. There were talks of taking the casinos on land, thereby greatly reducing the costs for the owners. One of the proposals was to allow for new high-rise construction near the beaches. They wanted to make coal mining a priority for the state. The coast was going to get opened for large scale music festivals that would get the who’s who of the world down to Goa.

The gates were being opened for the world to make its home in Goa. And at the same time, those very gates were being shut on the faces to keep out the ones that rightfully could call Goa home. The promoters blamed the locals for their lackadaisicalness. The locals wanted to be left alone. The two sides were never going to find a common ground. And this party was an attempt in the direction. In attendance were going to be socialites

Ankit Paul had put all he had and pulled all the strings he could to make this happen. His entire fortune and the reputation that his family had earned since forever was at stake. More so, after his father passed away, his personal credibility and integrity was being questioned. No, he did care for what people thought of him. He had more skeletons in his closet than the ruler of African countries had. But he did care about his bank balance. The power he wielded. The political ambitions that he couldn’t seem to find a route to.

This party was going to change all of that. Hopefully for good. And give Paul the respect that he’s craved for since he was a child. Respect that his father never accorded him. Respect that he had to fight hard to get. Respect that made him do all the things he did. Respect that mattered to him more than life or death.

***

Damn tough! But I like how it has come out!

What do you think?

And over and out. Hope it’s a great day!