Tag: Luck

Wk 15-26 – Weekly Note

Notes, thoughts and highlights from Week 15 of 2026.

April 12, 2026
Hotel Room at Siam, BKK
Round 2, at a coffee shop. Again, Siam, BKK.

This note comes from a hotel room in Bangkok. And a few more locations around the hotel room. Am here till about the 20th. At least. Could be longer. But as of today, till the 20th. I love this ambiguity!

Anyhow.
Let’s go.

So, truth be told, I have mixed feelings about being here. I love that am at a new place and building newer neural networks. And I don’t like this temporariness. I also dont like the inability to find a rhythm and a routine to get things done.

Oh on that.
I am a creature of habit and routine. I live such a predictable life that if someone had to map my movements, they could get it to last meter and last second and I would be like a sitting duck.

In Mumbai, you can predict when I would be at a Starbucks. And the seat I am on and the time I am and the order am having. In case I move from Andheri West, I will find another one at a walking distance. And I will find the same 10 things to work on.

I must mention that this tweet really made me think hard about life and work. To a point that I want to change how I operate. I see the merit in the arguments being made in this tweet but I also see the benefits in my approach. Lemme talk about it in a bit.

Right now, it’s the time for the weekly note.

The track of the week is music from Khudgarz.
I cant pick one specific track.
I would link the one that’s playing as I write this.

Tbh, I am so familiar with this one that I can predict the next song they’ll play in the medley. I love this so much that I want to create an ensemble band. I know there are many bands like this in the market but I would love to have my own.

Sigh.

So many ideas.
Such less time.
So few people that I can trust. On that note, if you are a young person who wants to get their hands dirty with life, by helping me do these “projects”, please do reach out. I am on sg@c4e.in. Or use this.

Ok, let’s go…

Lets get to the review.

💭 Highlights, reflections, updates, notes and thoughts from the last week

Last week I made these in an order. This week, I dont have an order.

1/ Travel

I have to start with this.

Ofc.

I’ve been on the road for almost a week now. And I will be travelling for another week, at least. While I love it, I also have some not so love-ful notes and thoughts. Lemme try the good and bad of each thing.

Garmi and Walks
For starters, I dont like the garmi here.
It’s way too hot for my liking. And humid. And muggy. And I dont like it at all. But I think this is better than India. I dont know why.

The good part?
I’ve walked about 15K steps on an average since I’ve come here! Maybe cos there is no dust? Maybe cos the city is very walkable with clean footpaths and shaded areas? Maybe the malls and stores are interconnected with large parts airconditioned?

Either way.
I am not complaining.
I cant tolerate the garmi but I’ve been able to rekindle my love for walking.

Fancyness and Belonging to the Streets
While I was here, I realised that I belong to the streets.

This means that I dont like places that are overtly plush or expect you to operate in a certain manner. I dont like fancy restaurants or needlessly boujee things. Ofc, I love attentive staff and tiny details to things but I dont like the randomly snobbish behaviour.

I also am not the kinds to queue up for anything.
I avoid queues if I can. Unless they are at an airport. And some day I would like to skip those as well. Or maybe someday I will walk in to the empty Benne and relish it so much that I want to queue up. But till that time, I dont think am doing that.

So, I belong to the streets. To the things you can touch and feel that are not behind glass walls. To the grime and dust and hustle that get through your skin and bones to your soul.

Exploration and Focus
Since I’ve been on the road, I’ve been using less and less of my phone. There is so much to do, see, experience IRL that I dont want to be be trapped in a 6.1″ OLED screen. If nothing else, I am sleeping better (may be its the walk?).

I know that I need to have a GREAT digital presence to attract opportunities but I see the merit in not being online.

The fact that my screentime is like 5 hours?
I love it!

I am now thinking, do I completely disown the mobile phone? I love the convenience that I get with a mobile phone in my hand. Its unparalleled luxury but then so is uninterrupted, peaceful sleep.

I want to experiment with not using mobile phone at all. Only use a dumb one. In fact, this month, I’ve been away from Insta and X and all that. And I will be, till end of April. May be I will do one month of insta and twitter and linkedin, one month of abstinence. Or maybe 15 days of guilt trip and then back to sanity for a month? I dont know yet. Lets see.

Staying on this exploration and focus thing, I have realised long ago that I am unable to work while I am on the road.

I had imagined that if I get couple of hours in the morning, I am mostly ok. But this trip has (and many others have) proven to me that I work best when I have my life defined by routine. If I have to embrace a truly nomadic life, I MUST find a way to balance work.

City Centres and Groups
This trip is with a group.
And these are people I love.
And ofc people I work with.
And a couple who’re not current colleagues. And each of us is eclectic AF. And as different as chalk and cheese. And yet we are together. I love it!

So, I’ve been the planner-in-chief of this trip. Which means I chose the part of the city we’d live in. The things we’d do. And who all will do what. Today’s day 3 of the trip and so far, I think I’ve done a pretty good job, considering all things and all the people. But I am sure there are many opportunities to do better.

Here are some…

  1. I booked a hotel and not a BnB. I think the decision was a blessing in disguise. Now that I’ve lived a few days, I think a managed place like a hotel was a good idea. We dont have the flexibility of the bnb but thats ok.
  2. I didnt book breakfast. I dont eat breakfast and I assumed others wont eat either. Big mistake. Next time I do a group trip, I will 100% book breakfast.
  3. I didnt define a budget. The trip has gone 40% over my expectations. Which is ok. I will live in the eco mode for a quarter and we’d be ok. Next time, I will inform this upfront.
  4. AK says that booking tickets and planning travel is my zone of genius. May be there’s something there?

There are more lessons but I think I will park it for the time being. Maybe I will wrote more of these once am back from the trip.

So that was travel.
Moving to the next thing.
People.

2/ People

A lot of notes about people.
Lemme list some.
I will remove names. For obvious reasons. I will create anonymous initials for them.

Lets go…

AB
This person is about 25.
One of the most talented, smartest people I know. To a point that I am envious of their talent. And ambition. And drive.

However, this person is inspired more by fame (than by creating impact) and aims to get famous and chase vanity metrics. And not delivering value. And not growing or learning.

And its not wrong. It’s just that at this age, you rather build something tangible. I wish I could put sense into them.

If youth knew…

CD
This person is my age.
One of my oldest friends.
Am grateful that he reads my notes and gives me honest, unfiltered advice. The kinds that you typically dont get from anyone. Love that I’ve got some real estate in his head. I nee to find more like him!

EF
This person is like AB above.
Young. Ambitious. And yet wants to take it easy. You know, make money. And chill.

I understand how this person wants to live life in a certain manner. However, my thought is, why would you throw away your gift in chase of an easy life? And your very life could become a role model for the rest of the world to follow. Why would you not do that?

GH
I know this person for 12 years.
And he’s been a mentor of sorts. And he and I spoke at length about where I am headed and how I would go there. Grateful that I have him. He’s promised that he would try and hook me up with some. Let’s see.

3/ Ego

This past week I let go of a client. Or maybe the client let go of us. The point is we are no longer working together.

Now that I am sitting by myself and thinking about it, I realise I made a mistake. It was a 100% salvageable situation. Many people were at fault. Starting at me. I was wrong. So was my team. And my collaborator. But it was not something that we couldnt have fixed.

I could’ve been strict with my team and told them to pull their socks up. I could’ve mentored them better. Heck, I could’ve replaced my team. May be I need to work with project orientation. In fact I had decided earlier as well that I need to think about projects more than I think about people. But I didnt pull the plug on that. Maybe I should’ve.

Anyhow.

What’s done is done. Lesson learnt. I hope to do better with the next ones.

The silver lining is that the client went away while giving us full marks for our effort. I just wish I wasnt spoken in a tone I was talked in.

4/ Routine

I started this week’s note with this tweet and I want to rethink how I operate.

I see the merit in the arguments being made in this tweet but I also see the benefits in my approach.

So I’ve always believed that luck is something that we can create. And I want to maximize my luck surface area. But then, I dont really do a lot of unfamiliar things. Like I said above, I go to the same cafe, at the same time, meet the same people, eat the same things. To a point that I am the most boring man.

I will change this.
Though, I need to first figure where my work will take me.

So that.

PS: I had imagined I would have a lot to say about this. But I dont. Lol!

5/ Work

Again, many threads in this.
Lemme try and articulate.

Deliberate life.
I was talking to SM yesterday and I told her that I want to live a deliberate life from here on. I dont know the shape it would take but I know some variables. I will try to articulate those here.

  1. I dont have a distinction between work and life. There is a significant overlap between the two and I will not have any other way.
  2. I want my work to a global business that takes me beyond borders and allows me to a “richer” life full of many experiences.
  3. I want to find many many ways to intersect with (and cross paths with) interesting people. This means
  4. I want to be very selective with what I work on and who I work with and what I charge for the same. More importantly, I want to do things that I enjoy. With good people who I really want to be with for the long-term. And some of these must challenge me and push me to do more.
  5. I want to use my time here to do things that I enjoy. And the act of doing those things must make meaning.
  6. I want to be a part of a cult where all of us have a similar mindset towards life. If I am unable to a part of some cult, may be, make one.
  7. Operate from trust and faith and freedom

I know this wont be for everyone.
I know a lot of these will sound vague.
I know most people wont relate to this.
I know this is extreme. But at the extremes is where you make things that are not ordinary.

Lessons from Pritam
Pritam has shown up many times here in the last few months. This week is no different.

This week, he taught me that I need to take hard calls and if need be, fire people who are closest to me. If I have to. And once I’ve tried everything.

And “incentivize” more people to do more. Even if I dont want to.

I also need to be more “real” with people. I must give negative feedback fast. Learnt this from Mihir as well.

He also told me that I need to be sharper and demand more from people. And if that means I need to do more to earn the right to demand more, I must. I also must go closer to outcomes and not stick to just inputs and outputs. Unrelated, when I delegate, I must implement this.

Lessons from Routine, Travel and The Client I lost
I MUST ask for more.

For me and C4E, this is as war-time as it gets and I MUST start to operate like a war-time CEO. And I have to be the warrior and not a gardener. And not create easy times. See this…

And this means I would change the shape of how I operate and work.

Wait and watch.

PS: I’ve been talking about this for a while but I havent acted on this. I guess time’s come to show myself what am capable of.

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6/ People Connector

I need to be a people connector.
There.
I said it.

It’s my zone of genuis. It’s my play while others find it exhausting. I can do this for the rest of my life without thinking about it.

There are many examples that I can cite – Interesting People, NS, DMC. HT and Sanjay Mehta often talk about their annual trip with their friends. I’ve also attended one by Ajeet Sir. Bux talked about doing something similar. And I can see a GREAT value in it.

I must do this. For self. My own version. With my people. For all of us to live a deliberate life. And then, offer it to other people. For them to see the magic that such networks can create. Filing it in #someday column of notes.

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📸 Photos from the past few days

Stopped this from the last week.
In case you want to get photos from me, DM me.

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🈺 Trackers…

Here’s my trackers.

Tell me what you see.

I love how everything is in green.
And there is a lot of coffee.
And ofc I hate that I am back on coke.

Also, here’s the weekly one…

Again, I love how steps is higher, screentime is lower and mood is consistent at 1. Yay!

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🈺 Action on LARGE objectives for the year

In this section, I will capture my progress on large objectives for the year. 

In 2026, I plan to do the following three things…

  1. Book2
  2. Human Flag Pole
  3. Save a million dollars

No action in the last week on any of these goals.
So, no progress and no update.
Hopefully from May onward, I will have something to show for.

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

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

So, this year, I want to track the following…

  1. Health. I will work on sleep, food and movement. Better than last week. Walked a lot. Slept ok. Did some pushups as well.
  2. C4E / Work. I want to shortlist some idea that I want to work on. I am still not closer to an answer. The deadline of 30th April 2026 stays.
  3. Brand SG / Distribution. No action on this.
  4. People (Family, Friends, Strangers, etc). No action.
  5. Book2. I want to start with this. No action.
  6. Shauk (Music, Films, Poker etc). I took some of my people to a trip to Bangkok. I love it. I wrote a part of this from a breakfast table where two of my kids were eating. Yay!

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🏃🏻‍♂️‍➡️ 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.

Last week, I did do any deliberate action per se but I did walk a lot more than I would typically do. So that counts something. Rest nothing tbh.

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🧠 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.

1/ Update C4E’s Culture Book. 
This is still WIP.
I have a suspicion that this list 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.

2/ C4E’s website
I may not want to work on C4E per se but it’s about time we fixed it. And I have taken it upon myself to do that. So, added this here.

Here are the things that I’ve closed previously…

  1. 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. 
  2. Storytelling presentation for the session on the 7th March. I missed this. And I will do this in March. Maybe on the 28th or the 29th? I missed this again. I dont think am doing this. So closing and moving on.

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🥡 So, one thing that defines the past week?

Movement.
Not the kinds that I would like but the one where I was moving.
Physically.
Which is ok.

The other words for this year have been: Blur, Activity, Movement, Regular (again), 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, 8, 9, 10, 11 (missed these three), 12, 13, 14

PPS: Please do point typos.

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

Wk 44-25 – Weekly Notes

Updates from Weeks 43 and 44 of 2025.

5:41 PM, Nov 2, 2025
Silk Road Cafe, Versova

I am here cos the Starbucks I hang out at, their AC is not working. And I literally melt when I am at a place without AC. And thus. And tbh, this is not a bad place. I dont see a lot of people who’d make the place creepy (like at Starbucks) and thus I like it. Lets see if I come here more often.

So, before I start the review, today’s SRK’s birthday. There was a time when I was a big fan (still am but I am wiser to not attach emotions to my fandom) and I would some day like to work with him. But for today, I am content with merely wishing him birthday from afar.

Thank you, SRK, for telling me what love could be. And what power of dreams could be. And what ambition could be.

And thus, the track of the week has to be this…

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Brings me to the next part of this post.

💭 Highlights, reflections and notes from the past week

And no, these are not in any order.

a/ So this last two weeks, I wrote two posts.
One about 25 questions. And the other about Piyush Pandey. He passed away a week or so ago and while the entire country was shocked, nothing seems to have stopped. Sobering lesson in Pale Blue Dot. And ego.

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b/ I need to fix my home situation.
I have a 1 bedroom hall house. And I have AC in just one of the rooms. That means I work in that room and sleep in that room and host people in that room. And this means I have chairs, working table, my mattress and everything else in this room. And this means that it’s cluttered all the time and anything thats cluttered is dirty for me. And I dont like it.

I know only I can fix it. Either I need to find a solution or I need to stop crying. I was to do this over this weekend but I couldnt. May be next weekend.

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c/ Money mindedness
Thanks to this post, I want to be a money minded man.

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d/ Saw a Tim Cook interview onboard AI1736
This one. I realised that he cant talk about Apple till date without talking about Steve. Even though it’s been like 15 years!

Also, I realised that each time I see a film, I want to be a film maker. I dont know in what shape!

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e/ A superquote on Spartans (from 300).
“Spartans true strength is the warrior next to him. So give respect and honor to him and it will be returned.”

This is what I want to build as culture at each place where I am at. Strength thru others.

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f/ sgMahabharata is at 39 posts!
w00t!

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Yeah, just these. I do have a lot of notes and commentary. Do read.

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📷 Some Photos from the week gone by

Some photos that I took and save over the last two weeks are here.

The photo that I would like to highlight is this..

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🈺 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. The trigger by NanoWrimo makes me want to start on it again. But I dont really have the time at this time : (

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

Health – No large updates except the fact while I was in delhi, I actually lost a couple of KGs since I ate in discipline! Since I’ve come back, it’s been tough to manage eating well and I think am back to 93. Lets see how the next week is. PS: I track my health updates here, in case.

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☑️ 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.

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

Health. Was ok. I am encouraged to give myself a 0.

Meru. Great progress. But nothing to report per se. And still no consumer launch. And thus a 0.

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

Brand SG. Last two weeks was slow. So 0.

People. Some action on this. Met many friends, alums and others. Loved it. +1.

Book 2. Nothing. -1.

Shauk. Saw a play. Must watch more. A 0.

So the overall score for the week is 0!

Few weeks ago, I had decided that I want to get a positive score each week. I had to organise my life to be able to get to a 0. I think I’ve made the tracker. I need to run it now. Let’s see how it pans out in the next few weeks.

Brings me to the tracker of the week…

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📊 The tracker from the last week

I am not publishing this. I hardly took note. I will get back to this from next week on.

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🏃🏻‍♂️‍➡️ Health

Like the tracker, I am not publishing this. I hardly took note. I will get back to this from next week on.

The food log, my daily health log channel continue to be active.

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📖 Interesting Reads / Views

Quite a few. Here we go.

Also, I am publishing these on Substack as well. Here is the substack. And here’s the permalink to the post.

1/ From Collabfund

From this piece on Collabfund, https://collabfund.com/blog/if-you-get-the-chance/, I have taken these notes…

“I found in my career that if you take pride in the little jobs, people will think you worthy of the bigger jobs.”

This is important cos I see so many people wanting to do large things but they are not willing to put in the reps required. And here’s the interesting thing – reps typically look like little jobs, done many times over!

Unfortunately, I didn’t appreciate this lesson enough early in my career. As an example, after graduating from business school, I thought I could come right in and impart my newly found wisdom, when I should have been a better listener and executed the mundane tasks with as much vigor as the more interesting ones.

This – if I could give this advice to young people, I would ask them to first listen and then act.

“Just focus on doing the best you can with those two reps. Make them as perfect as you possibly can. Then focus on the next two, and the next two, and the next two.”

And people are at it, I would want them to do one thing well. Little ironical since I am not the kinds to be able to focus on one thing!

2/ From the markers of Hey

I read this post from the makers of Hey. The biggest takeaway for me was this line,

But the most interesting designs to me are when design changes your behavior. Even the smallest details can change how someone interacts with something.

Thing is, as custodians and builders of taste, we must take each opportunity to change behaviour. Even if you are not a designer, the opportunity to impact change is always there!

3/ From the founder of Replit

From Amjad (founder of replit), on his recent post, he talks about how to win.

While I am not as competitive as him, I am in agreement with 4 of the 6 things that he mentioned – dont die, never quit, do hard things and put something back.

The one that I cant seem to wrap my head around is “locking in”. And I am not sure where I am on the “playing by the rules”. I am from India and to make things work, we often have to be flexible on rules and ethics.

4/ Alex’s three-month marketing plan

This post by Alex is INCREDIBLE!

My takeaways are…

  1. Personality Driven Content – I need to find a way to be louder with my personality. I am 43. If not now, when?
  2. Each person on the team HAS to be a brand on the internet. Period.
  3. Need to operate the business as a content company. Each week I read something like this and I nod alongside and yet this remains a challenge.
  4. Need to have LARGE distribution. Need to find people with large following who are willing to support.
  5. Build a distribution engine where each piece you create is repurposed 100 times.

Also listed these here. Ask for access.

5/ Julian Cole on Strategy

This post talks about how to write a strategy presentation. As someone who worked on brand strategy for like 15 years, I can validate, this is spot on!

A flowchart diagram divided into five vertical sections labeled Reflection on the left showing Where we are today, Ambition in the center-left showing The tomorrow we could have Where we are today could have, Challenge in the center showing The challenge we need action change for, Jeopardy in the center-right showing The insight that unlocks this, and Hope on the right showing Gives us a way through that unlocks this idea Where we are today could have. Arrows connect the sections horizontally from left to right indicating progression.
Source: https://x.com/juliancole/status/1980870485287338262

6/ Rahul Mathur’s breakdown of Meesho

Rahul is one of my fav writers these days. Other are Kuldeep, Ankush, Harnidh.

In this thread, he breaksdown Meesho’s IPO. For me, the highlights and lessons are…

  1. The AOV is going down by design! And they are a 75% CoD business.
  2. They have an in-house logistics arm that does 20-30 lakh order PER DAY! On their website, they say they pick 40 lakh orders PER DAY!
  3. People are discovering products via creators. This segment is opaque to me (because I live and think in a different TG)
  4. The business has seen few large pivots. Again, I dont track it as much and thus I dont know the specifics. But intriguing for sure.

May be I will read more about it. Looks unlikely because the segment Meesho serves is not something that excites me.

And +1 to Rahul for all the hardwork he does.

7/ “This is new to me”

On this tweet, saw this line…

Instead of “I’m bad at this”. Say “This is new for me”. This gives your brain the space to learn instead of shut down. This is neuroplasticity in real time.

Interesting idea. Especially for me since at this age, I am finding very very hard to change how I have lived and operated.

8/ How to engineer luck

This post talks about how to engineer luck.

Now, luck is one of the favorite topics and while I didnt learn anything new from the post, it was interesting to read from somoene else’s lens. Some lines that I’ve highlighted are…

A/ Unscheduled calls. I’ve started to make these lately. Not sure

Super-agent Ari Emmanuel makes dozens of unscheduled calls every day. His opening line: “Can I help you with anything right now?

B/ Luck Razor…

If stuck with 2 equal options, pick the one that feels like it will produce the most luck later down the line. I used this razor to go for drinks with a stranger rather than watch Netflix.

C/ Proactively make intros. On this, my only note is that I want to make intros once I realise that both the parties want to be introed. Ofc, I trust both parties, I know it would be of value and all that.

Networks are unique because they don’t divide when you share them — they multiply. There’s no higher ROI on any other 30-second activity. (Note — do not confuse this with making introductions where only one side gets value from it)

D/ Give!

Give aggressively, give early, give without permission.

E/ Permissionless entry into the rooms. I have been a GREAT beneficiary of this and I cant stop recommending this enough.

Find the most talented people you know and help them as much as you can, permissionlessly. Share their projects, give feedback, and make introductions. Successful people have a special place in their hearts for the people who helped them before anyone else did.

9/ Lessons on life, from a 22-year old

This is a feel-good post for Sunday.

A young person discovering life. I wish each young person here gets to live such a life and pick lessons along the way. So many lessons packed into that one!

I found myself nodding and smiling at the words. Must read.

10/ Chat GPT on Longevity

This post on insta has some thoughts on longevity.

Not sure if this is correct (afterall, AI is known to hallucinate). Here are a commentary on the post…

  • Stress shortens your life more than sugar. I think I dont take stress but I am told that my Cortisol levels are not good. So need work on that.
  • Live now. I’ve lived my life with this principle. So am ok.
  • Don’t force yourself to stay in draining situations and do things that you are internally not opposed to. This means bad marriages, bad jobs, energy drains etc etc. Mostly I am ok to get out of those. But when I can’t I need to be faster to get out of those.
  • Deep connection matters more than any supplement. I need to double down my efforts on building more communities and being more immersed in those.
  • Find purpose larger than self. I need to work on this one. At this time, I dont have a large enough purpose apart from the chase of freedom.

While on longevity, do read this piece from Lenny San’s newsletter.

11/ Ever wondered why do people touch their ears when they are talking about their teachers?

I knew this intuitively but then I got reading.

In one line, it’s usually a gesture of respect, apology, or humility. A more nuanced and detailed answer is that when you talk about a teacher, touching of ear is a symbolic acknowledgement that you are saying sorry even before you start talking because you may misspeak.

A deeper nuance is that even if you not misspeak, whatever you may say will always be a fraction of what your teacher already know. So, by touching your ears and apologizing, you are admitting that you are nothing compared to your teachers.

While I am not for any such subservient behaviour, this one, I quite like. Make what you will of this.

12/ India against India

In this post, the writer makes some very compelling arguments about India. shared this with a few friends.

On one side, some folks said this is a very biased view against india. And they were quick to dismiss.

On the others, mostly folks who love india deeply and are settled abroad, said that this was an objective piece.

You could be on either side but there is no denying that this is a compelling piece of writing and the author has a way with words. If nothing else, think of this as a satirical piece and enjoy for the sheer joy of reading.

13/ Creative Slop

In this thread, the writer argues that large cultural revolutions often start as slop. And in the world that we live in, we are often tend to dismiss the new!

A lot of groups that I am a part of are dissing work done by folks on AI as slop are not even acknowledging the effort!

14/ Conceptual stories vs Perceptual Stories

In this piece, the large takeaway is that brain remembers conceptual stories more than perceptual stories. There are different ways you could fill in the details of that story. You could give perceptual descriptions of how your food looked and tasted. Or you could focus more on conceptual experiences, such as what that food made you think and feel.

15/ Notes on India

In this piece, Jason talks about what he saw while he was in India.

I thought it was a very accurate understanding of India (and unbiased one at that). Do read to understand us. Made many highlights. Listing a couple points…

It seems that most Indians operate in a fundamentally open-ended and uncertain environment

…

In India, cooperating with the rules almost always lands you in the sucker’s quadrant of the prisoner’s dilemma, whereas creative defection is generally net positive (perhaps in a macro sense, society operates less efficiently because of it, but in a personal sense, defecting wisely pays off).

16/ Jack and Jane of trades

In this tweet, the writer claims,

“Specialize or die” made sense in 1995. In 2025, it’s a death sentence. The future belongs to generalists, and the proof is in Systems Theory.”

Do read the thread.

17/ Naval on working for self. And work-life balance.

In this podcast, Naval talks about how when you work for yourself, the concept of work-life balance ceases to exist. He talks baout how the taste of freedom makes you “unemployable”.

Once you are “free” you are unable to find yourself fitting into any structures and you find ways to get back the call of the wild.

I can 100% resonate to this 🙂

18/ This post by Ankit Sawant on Cleartrip

I’ve always loved Cleartrip for their design and CX. This is a great post about the business in general and how design can play the central role in building business. Ofc, cleartrip is nowhere close to the top but still!

19/ On people

Saw this tweet and I was blown apart. Such a simple chart. Such a difficult lesson.

20/ On running

This piece on running is among the best you will ever read. Here are a couple of quotes that I am taking home…

I didn’t want my id to overcome my superego

One lesson I learned about running that also applies to writing: The best time to do something important is usually right now. And when you have to get something done in a short amount of time, it’s wise not to spend that time complaining about how little time you have.

21/ Andrej talks about how agency will be more important than intelligence

See this link.

Andrej talks about how agency is going to be more important than intelligence. And I agree. I’ve long believed that once AI commodities intelligence, we will need people to get things done! The question to ask – are you the kinds to “I’ll figure it out”

Also, I love how he talks about internal locus of control. A great way to explain agency.

22/ Social Capital Balance Sheet

Saw this tweet and I was blown apart. Such a simple chart. Such a difficult lesson.

Two large takeaways for me

  • 1/ “Your ability to affect the world, to bring things into being, to convince people to work with you, work for you, and for investors to invest with you is based deeply in your reputation. And if you don’t care what people think about you, you will necessarily accomplish less, work with fewer people, raise less money.”
  • 2/ “Humility is the delta between performance and ego”

🧠 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?

Getting back in action.

Slow and steady but after a two week break, I am now trying to get back to churning the wheels. I am hopeful that the coming week will see solid action.

Oh and in the previous weeks, the one-word reviews have been… Unsettling, 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, 42

I’ve missed the following weeks: 9, 15, 17, 22, 24, 41, 43

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 10-25 – Weekly Notes

Notes from the 9th and the 10th week of 2025.

Hello hello!
I am back!
I missed week 9. I was unwell and thus I didn’t publish. I could have but it takes like a few hours of active thinking to get this going and I didn’t want to a shoddy job at it. No, I am not for perfection but I am definitely for putting in the effort and I know I was in no shape to put in the effort. So that.

The other thing, no one asked.
So much so for writing in public, and attempts to build an audience!

Anyhow. The point is, I am back to writing.

A lot seems to have happened in the last 2 weeks. And yet nothing seems to have moved. You know what I mean? Everything is happening at once and nothing is happening at all.

More in the next few paras…

🈺 What I was supposed to do in the week gone by. And my report on the same.

A/ 2025 plan.
This remains open. We are now officially in the third month of the year. I’ve never been this delayed with this plan. May be I will take a day off this week and do this?

B/ Health
I have a LOT to report in this department. I got myself kitchen things. After I think 7-8 years. The last time I had a semblance of a functioning kitchen was when Sonali and I lived together in Ghatkopar. Once she moved on, I haven’t had the kitchen things.

I am building it back. I don’t like it to be honest but I need to live long and be healthy while I live long.

I am also adding some more ingredients to what I eat – things like Protein, Oats, Almond Milk, Sattu, Turmeric, Chia Seeds, ACV etc. I’ve built a habit of blending a lot of these things in a grinder and eating / drinking what comes out of it.

Been doing it for 3 days now and so far it seems to be ok.

Oh, the trigger for this was the latest episode of food poisoning. I fell sick and missed a few events. And that’s when I decided I’ve had enough of this life. Oh, I have activated this channel where I will upload EACH thing that I eat. And do read this from my clone.

I just need to add a gym and workout and I think we would be ok.

☑️ 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 – Started to set up the kitchen. Will try and get a cook. And like I said, will add some workouts. I’ll give myself +1 on this.

Meru – This is new. I am adding this on top of C4E. At the time, we are setting up the business and this means there’s a lot of work – team, processes etc. On this a lot is getting done, thanks to Hareesh Sir. I will give myself a 0 on it.

C4E – I am not very active on this any more. The only thing I do now on C4E is take care of my people (mentoring, coaching etc) and service long-term relationships (clients that are now friends and I am invested in their success). The other critical areas (running the kitchen etc) have been taken up by others.

Over time, I want to stop reporting on this. But I may not be able to. C4E is the only thing I’ve created and probably the only thing I am attached to. With or without my running it like a business. Think Berkshire and Warren. I will give myself 0.

Brand SG – Recorded many conversations. For C4E, for Adulting, and for Meru. The first guest for The Otpmist’s Manifesto is decided. So good overall. I will give myself +1.

Now, need to find a way to build distribution.

People – Did nothing. -1

Book 2 – No action. I just need to carve out time to send prompts to Cluade. So, -1

Shauk – Nothing on this. So, another -1

So the overall score is -1 for this week.

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 two weeks

Here’s the tracker.

You’d spot a lot of reds. And greens. Blame it on food poisoning. I mean I think it’s food poisoning. I didn’t really go to a doc to check. My aversion to doctors is a well-known thing!

The point is, I was unwell. And that left me with some down days. And that affected how I live and work.

📷 Some Photos from the week gone by

Here are some photos.

This one is a mix of app screenshots and photos that I took. Do check out some of the sunset pics and videos. Absolutely bombs.

📖 Interesting Reads from the last two weeks

I know there are more things I read and saved. But this is all I have to share at this time.

💭 Highlights, reflections and notes from the week.

A/ Starbucks
I am at a Starbucks as I write this. And I love that I am in the zone while I am here. I just need to build a space like this. At times I think I should start a coworking space. Other times I don’t want to. I may as well say, fuck it, let’s do it. And I may open it up. Anyone wants to partner up?

B/ Love
This is a big one. I think I am ready to find love. If I can find love. I mean I’ve been that romantic who believes that love just happens but it clearly hasn’t happened to me. I am unlucky like that (no am not crying about being unlucky – am VERY lucky otherwise).

Oh, and why do I want to find love?
Well cos apparently love is the fifth ingredient that you need in life to live long and thrive. Read this.

C/ From C4E to Meru
A large part of my time will now be spent on building Meru. While I do that, C4E will be run independently by Chandni, Anshika, Fareen, Kaushik and others. And they will be helped by our friends, colleagues, partners and well-wishers. I need to write a separate post on this someday. Not for others. But for self.

Oh, the other thing that has happened is that I now open Meru’s email before I open C4E’s. If this is not moving on, I don’t know what is.

D/ Spiritual SG
Lately, I have found myself to be very very spiritual. I find deeper meaning in the music I listen to, the actions I take, the people I meet and the decisions I make. I don’t know what this means or where I am going but this is new to me. I’ve been a transactional person all my life. I look at things from a problem-solution lens. And then I move on. Once I add spirituality to things, things change. So that.

I’ve been reading a lot of Kabir, Baba Farid, Buleh Shah, Rumi etc. I am not sure what school of devotion, spirituality, bhakti etc they belong to. But I like what I am reading.

E/ This tweet
I saw a couple of people I love get what they want. And that was incredible! This was easily the highlight of the week gone by. Do read it. Please 😀

F/ Films
While I was unwell, I saw a lot of films. Jack Reacher. The Runaway Jury. I don’t even recall the name of, or the story of the other 8-part series that I saw!

While vegetation is ok for a few days, I remembered that I wanted to make films. I will get back to it. I am not sure when I will find the time with all that’s happening but I will add this to the shauq column and get going.

G/ Mumbai
Here’s a thing. If you are young, ambitious and want to grow, you HAVE to be in Mumbai or Bangalore. No Delhi. No Pune. No Goa. No remote. While on this, read these two by Paul Graham – Ambition and Cities and Hubs. Of course, if you can go beyond India, look at places like Dubai, NY, SFO, Singapore and such places.

I know the world we live in is very connected and all that. But there’s some magic that happens when you shake hands and look at someone in their eyes. Hubs create magic that nothing else can replace.

Oh, this trigger came to my head because in the last few days, I’ve spoken to two really sharp young women who’ve expressed their desire to move from their cocoons to large hubs. In fact, I saw one really smart person move to Pune to join some startup that sells cheap Chinese knock-offs and it broke my heart. It could be a great career move but its life harakiri.

You will get limited as a person if you goto a place like Pune, Nasik, Kochi, Chandigarh, Indore, Jaipur, Ahmedabad (C4E Labs is based out of Ahd, btw) and all that.

Of course, if you are not ambitious, you can continue to “enjoy” the “quality” of life in these second-rate cities. But if you are ambitious and want to make something from your life, consider moving to a hub. Move to epicentres of action and not pine for the relaxed, remote life. You can relax when you’ve done what you’ve been sent here to do. And while the remote things may work for a few exceptional people, in general, for average folks, remote life is not worth it.

And I say this with all my disclaimers (edge cases, exceptions, strong opinions, power of youth, opportunity, privilege, life conditions, family etc etc).

And yes, the fuckery that “hubs” impose on you (bad infra, pollution, “fast” life, “struggle”) is 100% worth it.

H/ Space. Trust.
I realised that I want to have a large space for self. And then some space for my friends and family. You know, sai itna dijiye?

And thus I need more money. To be able to have a large space. And no, not on rent. But own. India sucks like that. Pesky neighbours look down upon you and question if someone is staying the night with you. I don’t know why we are such a low-trust society. And here I am – I put my faith and trust in even strangers.

So I need that. I will work towards that.

I/ Impermanence. Of loss.
Something happened at C4E that made us lose money (about 3 lakhs) and our reputation. As a team, we could’ve done better. We’ve taken our lessons. The largest for me is that I need to listen more to my gut and not give into emotions.

The biggest thing for me from this experience? Ensure that people directly involved are ok. And I second, do not add random processes so avoid such things from happening in the future.

No, I don’t want to get into too much detail. But the last word on this is, this too shall pass.

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

  1. Looking forward to the workshop on Taste. On the 22nd. More here.
  2. The fact that I live away from my parents continues to eat at me. I don’t know what to do about it.
  3. Loved the connection between Baba Farid and me.
  4. Met a friend and gave him gyaan on how to manage life. I wish I could do more such sessions. Anyone else needs to put a structure to their lives?
  5. Plants remind me of Sonam. Starbucks reminds people of me. What else can one be reminded of? reminded by?
  6. I put this tweet offering help. Spoke to a few people. Must do this more often.
  7. cerebralquotient.com is gonna be live soon!

I think this is it. Was good to be back and writing! I really missed the joy this simple activity brings to me. Must do more of this.

🥡 So, one large takeaway from the week?

Survive. Survival. Surviving.

I think this is how I would summarise the last few days. This is what defines my week

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

—

Ok!
This is it!
Lemme know what you think.
Gotta go.
See you around.

Oh, here are the previous editions: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09 (missed)

PS: This series of posts is inspired by Thej and his weekly notes.
PPS: Added emojis!

191021 – Morning Pages

Update about what I did yesterday, what I plan to do today. And some random things from here and there.

8:46. Some hotel. Just had breakfast. I have time till 10:30 I think before I need to get started. That means I can write this leisurely. Assuming I have enough to write about. Let’s find out.

So, yesterday went in a blur. Before I knew it, it was 2. And then before I knew it, it was 9. Right now I am at ease. Wearing a nice, crisp shirt. Here’s a thing. When I was in Mumbai, I never cared but now that I am with my parents where things are managed, it feels great to wear a crisp shirt. Even if gets crumped in the next 3 seconds.

Gurgaon gives you so many opportunities to each kachra that you are sort of unaware of when you are not here. I mean in just yesterday, I have had momos, egg chow mein (the kinds that only exist in India), Banana cake, the famous Gurgaon paranthas, and whatnot. All these are clearly fucking with my system. I can feel the stomach revolting. I need to fix my food intake but right now I am prioritizing work over it. I know I should not. But I dont know what to do. Guess this is why they say that financial independence is the best kinds.

Anyhow.

So, took a brand workshop yesterday for a startup. Totally enjoyed giving gyaan and seeing the aha moments come on the faces of people. I loved it. Like everyone else, I love it when I am helpful and I get paid for that! In fact, I think I was born to perform. Just that I do not have the talent to sing or dance or something. I can speak reasonably ok. I need to find how I take this ok to “great” levels. And what could I speak that makes people pay and allows me to live a fulfilling life. If you are reading this, you probably know me. Any ideas? What do you guys think?

Continuing with work, I happened to catch up with my ex-colleagues from the events industry fraternity. I realized that I miss them so much and I love them so much that I probably should’ve never quit. I may sound biased but there probably is no other industry like that. In the sense, you need to have the right mix of suaveness and street-smartness, to be able to even be a part of it. And I think I was right there. I had it. Just that I was unable to stick to it. Lol. Story of my life.

So yeah. That. And here’s the journal.

  1. Emoticon: :). I feel good. I slept ok last night. I hadnt slept well the night before. So that worked out well.
  2. Mindful Index (on a scale of 10): 1. Less distracted. But this is only becuase I could shuffle a few things and get closure on those. Need to continue to ship and I will hoipefully get better. And then I need to start with meditation.
  3. Things that I am grateful for
    1. I slept well last night. It was nice to have woken up before an alarm (like most days) but with some peace and sanity.
    2. I loved the hot fast shower and the crisp shirt I got to wear about it. I never realised a nice shirt could mean so much. Oh, and I need to find a way to live in the hotel.
    3. I could get two of my younger friends to collaborate and work together (NJ and CM). I am grateful that I can create opportunities for people around me.
  4. Things that would make my today great
    1. I would love it if the workshop is delivered well. Yesterday it went ok. Today, I need to see if I can deliver.
    2. I have been asked to attempt a script. Let’s see if I am able to get that out of the way. It would be nice if I could.
    3. I will try to skip Coke. If I can do that, nothing like it.
  5. A daily affirmation. I can control my urges and not give in to things that could harm me. I will be able to avoid things like Coke today.
  6. Amazing things that happened yesterday? 
    1. Same as gratitude piece. That I could create opportunities for people around me. Just need to scale it.
    2. Delivered the brand workshop reasonably well. Need to do that today as well.
    3. A friend was in distress. I could help her while she went through a pot-boiler of emotions.
  7. What could have made yesterday better?
    1. If I could avoid eating kachra, it would have been awesome.
    2. If I did not waste time and ensured that I got more done, it would have been better.
  8. Quote for the day
    “Luck is the best superpower” – Elon Musk. And you need to work on developing luck. I can probably give a discourse on this (not that I have been lucky but I am fairly ok on that department).

This is about it for the day. And here’s the streaks…

  • OMAD – 0
  • #book2 – 0
  • NOFAP – 0
  • #noCoke – 0. Had 2. Will try and stop from after today.
  • #noCoffee – 0. Sipping on to one as we speak. Will stop from after today.
  • #aPicADay – 11. Yesterday’s here. I had decided to click a Red pic and I had to force myself to find redness around me. I had to sort of create the frame and it was an interesting challenge to do so. Let’s see what color do I choose right now.
  • Daily Journal – 12
  • Money spent – 21465. And no, I did not buy an asset per se. It was spent on something random that I hate hate hate.
  • Killer Boogie – 0
  • 10K steps a day – 0
  • Surya Namaskar – 0
  • Daily Mail to #teamSG – 12
  • 10 mins of meditation – 0
  • Minimaslism Counter – -3 +1.
  • Morning Pages / Meditations – 12

250621 – Morning Pages

I talk about sleep, luck, writing and electric toothbrush 😀

5:56 AM. Woke up a few minutes ago.
I am surprised that I even get these 4 hours of sleep. I am having too much coffee. I even had a Red Bull while I was recording a podcast!

Sleep = rekt!

So this sleep thing has been on my mind a lot lately! And it’s uncanny that someone I know via Twitter gifted me this book, without me asking for it.

If this is not a sign, I don’t know what is!

Actually lemme decode it.
How the gift happened.
And decode how we “spot” signs when they don’t really exist.

So I know that I’ve not been sleeping well. To a point that my work is getting affected. It’s a loop – get work done -> goto Starbucks -> compelled to order something -> unable to finish work -> stay up late -> get coffee -> can’t focus -> delay. Plus it’s too hot and the AC that I have makes so much noise that it could very well drown out the sound made by a drilling machine trying to poke through a rock!

In one word, my sleep is rekt!

Sleep thus is on my mind. A lot.

This is when VK put up a display picture on his WA about a piece that he’s read from the book. It talks about how caffeine is the second most traded thing in the world (after water or oil, I am not sure now). I was sipping onto coffee at that point and being the know-it-all jerk I am, I said, it’s not caffeine per se, but it’s tea. I was ready to go to war with that “knowledge”.

VK remained patient and told me to not get into semantics and get the drift of the argument. Which I did. But had to be told by him. After that, we got talking about the book. I asked for the name and while he did tell me, he said that he wants to send me a copy. He even said it’s probably the best book he’s ever read!

I, of course, said no.
He insisted.
And here we are.
The book in my mailbox.

Now, I have to read it and make changes.
And hopefully sleep better.

So that. It’s not a sign per se. I created circumstances that made me create these signs! I think we can do the same with life. Whatever you wish to get, acquire, own et al, you can create opportunities and signs for those to come true. You can, in one line, create luck!

Luck = Real

Ok.
Moving on.
And yet, staying on the course, the podcast that I recorded was with a VC and apart from other things we talked about, we spoke at length about luck. And how to create it. If I were to summarise what he said, he said that movement creates luck. Do things. Never pause. Act. And over time, get better at spotting how to create movement. You must listen to the podcast (it’s at least a month away from release). Sign up here and I would send you an email when it comes out.

This is such common wisdom and yet people miss it. This is similar to my theory of movement. And of throwing darts. In fact, one of the things that I would teach people, if I could, would be to be more open, take more chances and do more things. While the focus is great, the times we live in demand we are generalists and more rounded!

Focus -> Writing

Ok. The next thing I want to talk write think about out loud is, writing. Again, something that’s super close to my heart.

So, over the last few days, I have had multiple conversations with multiple groups of people about writing. There are many lessons and ideas and thoughts. But one thing is clear.

I need to take my writing more seriously.

I mean I was always serious about my writing. I’ve been writing this series of posts for almost 200 days now! I probably write publish more than 1000 words each day. In the last six months, I would have published 200,000 words on just this blog.

The problem (not really a problem per se, but a limiting factor) is that I write for myself. I don’t care if people read what I write. Writing makes me think better, center myself, get my thoughts in place, and all that. And thus I write.

I just need to make the pivot to writing for others.
And build an audience.
And let that audience work to create opportunities for me.
You know, get lucky!

Thing is, the life I’ve chosen for myself and where I am headed, I will have to connect with people at scale. And that means the ability to write well will come in handy. No, not just handy. It would become imperative. And will be the most important thing I’d do.

So, I need to now start thinking about what others like and how do I tweak what I write to ensure that others read. For starters, I dont think anyone is interested in these daily rants. I may not stop these posts but I need to find an avenue to write things that others would like to consume.

The biggest problem with that is that not everyone reads everything. So I will have to choose some niches that are wide enough to attract interest. For example, can I write about marketing for non-marketers? I am sure there is an audience for that. Can I write about insights from India? I am sure there is an audience for that. Can I write about how to get an unfair advantage in life? I am sure there is an audience for that!

You get the drift. I need to find a niche. SoG was a series to write for others. But then it saw very limited success. I could not grow an audience beyond friends and family. Even those people did not read what I wrote. Maybe I will restart those? And this time, write with a perspective of getting more people to read? And build a community?

Let’s see.

I think this is about it for the day.
Regular things from life continue to haunt me – too many things open at work, slacking at work, not eating well, etc.

The electric toothbrush experiment is going nice. I am getting used to it. Not sure if it cleans my mouth as well as manual scrubbing does. But it’s a new thing and thus keeps me interested. Time to go do that.

Meanwhile, here’s streaks…

  • Morning Pages / Meditations – 194
  • #aPicADay – 0
  • 10K steps a day – 0
  • OMAD – 0
  • #noCoffee – 0
  • #noCoke – 106
  • 10 mins of meditation – 0
  • #book2 – 0
  • Killer Boogie – 0
  • Surya Namaskar – 0