Tag: Luck

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