May 24
3:4p PM, Jamjar
Updated at 8 AM, May 26th at DN Nagar.
The week gone by was a super fast one. Naman and Vishal were around and that meant I was lot more busy with them. Reinforced the belief that you can either work or manage life. I mean, am sure there are people that manage homes and lives and all that. But I know I can’t. So that.
Ok enough of prelude. Let’s get going.
Let’s go!
💭 Highlights, reflections and notes from the week.
A/ Self-Image
Lemme start with the biggest, the deepest thing in my head and heart: my self-image.
Context – I was talking to somebody last week and I realized that I think that I am doing the worst in my friend and social circle. In terms of money, life, work, societal goals etc etc.
And this means that my self-image is really really bad. And like all problems that I need to solve, I need to work on it.
Now I don’t know how to do it but I want to make a note in this weekly update. And I want to reflect on that during the coming week. Let’s see how I do that.
B/ Photo on the internet
Continuing on the self-image thing, it is one of the large reasons why I didnt put my photo on the internet.
But, I now have many photos on the internet. On places like Linkedin and Twitter. And people are commenting left, right and centre. And that’s not cool. And I need to fix it. So that.
And no, I am not linking to those. Go find out!
B.1/ Personal brand
HIGH TIME I WORK ON MY DISTRIBUTION AND PERSONAL BRAND. COME ON AK! And AK, Happy birthday!
C/ C4E People
My people are stronger than I had imagined them to be. For context, at C4E, we have a tough client and I was of the opinion that we must let go of that client. Not worth the effort. But my team said they will manage. And they seem to be managing. So, yay!
D/ Push ups
I talked about pushups last week. I am glad to report that I continued for a few days. I’ve missed it over the last 2-3 days but I am mostly been thinking about it. So that’s cool.
I will eventually get to a point where I can do 100 push-ups in one go. Adding this to yet another life goal. Lol!
E/ Google IO / io
I saw the keynotes from Google IO. Loved that I am almost at the peak of my life at this time and I get to live and do great things.
I also saw the announcement by Sam and Jony about Open AI and io. And I want to scream in the void. There’s so much to do in life and we are fighting over religion. Sigh.
Thing is, when I saw the video, epiphany dawned onto me that they are actually talking about building things that will impact the way the world lives and works. Lemme give an example. When Apple made the iPhone with a touchscreen, I am sure they weren’t the first ones to make a phone with a touchscreen. But they definitely were the ones to show people what they wanted and marketed that well. To a point that people started to demand that. And other companies had to innovate to stay relevant. And that pursuit of relevance made these companies chase innovation and that chase of innovation gave a larger mass actual access to a better life.
Same thing with Tesla. Tesla wasn’t the first one to make electric cars but the marketing and communication around it made the entire world open up to the ideas of electric cars. And that forced every other car manufacturer to chase it. And that made the dream the reality.
So, that is the kind of impact that you need to have rather than doing delivery of groceries in 10 minutes. You build something that shifts how people live and operate. And then you talk about it. And then you enable. That’s something I want to work on!
Oh, and while I do that, I want to make money. To be able to do more things!
Makes sense?
F/ Mr Beast at a Billion Dollars
This seems to have not got its due because of all the other news from the last week (AI, Cannes etc). The fact that one-person from a non-celebrity, non-sports background is a billionaire is a remarkable thing. This gives me a lot of hope!
G/ Madhushala by Harivansh Rai Bachcchan
One of my favorite poems of all times. I dont know why am talking about them here but I listen to these often.
मेरे शव पर वह रोये, हो जिसके आंसू में हाला
आह भरे वो, जो हो सुरिभत मदिरा पी कर मतवाला,
दे मुझको वो कान्धा जिनके पग मद डगमग होते हों
और जलूं उस ठौर जहां पर कभी रही हो मधुशाला।।८३।
और चिता पर जाये उंढेला पात्र न घ्रित का, पर प्याला
कंठ बंधे अंगूर लता में मध्य न जल हो, पर हाला,
प्राण प्रिये यदि श्राध करो तुम मेरा तो ऐसे करना
पीने वालों को बुलवा कऱ खुलवा देना मधुशाला।।८४।
Also, related, see, these lines from Zakir. I dont want no one to come when I die (I want to die alone – caretakers of my will, please take note) but these lines ring home.
H/ Cheerleader of action
I was talking to someone the other day and I happened to mention that I am the biggest cheerleader of action. Lemme elaborate.
So there are people say they will do things and they’ve been saying it for 100 years. And then there are some people who actually do things. They move forward. Even if its an inch at a time.
I have this solid belief that I ought to support the ones who actually do things.
Often you would find people who fake and all that. But their actions show their true intent. You know, words > action and if you have to make a mistake, I love folks who err on the side of action.
Oh, this also correlates to that adage – “God helps those who help themselves”.
This tenet seems to have percolated in each thing I do and each action I’ve taken. I want to mention Roohi here. The kid has the tenacity of a warrior. She is taking action all the time!
Phew!
I/ Issac John of Ivory
Got connected to Issac John. He’s one of the founders at Ivory. The chat with him was one of the most hearywarming and interesting ever. I wish I am like him when I grow up.
J/ Baarish is here!
Yay!
K/ Khosla Ka Ghosla (and films)
Lemme talk about this in a tad more detail.
In the week gone by, I spent some time thinking about the medium of films. And I realised that we need to be a player in that.
Plus, I saw Khoslsa Ka Ghosla on Saturday at Balram‘s Secret Cinema Screenings. Revisited the ride of emotions that I get each time I see it. Made me reflect on a lot of things. Here are some…
Watching films is a communal experience that I am not sure I get the value of. In fact, I dont get the value of watching anything when you are in a group. No films. No sports. Nothing. And I know I am wrong. Because nations have been built, battles have been fought, planets have been conquered on the back these communal experiences. People meet ideas as these experience. People meet people. And most importantly, people meet inspiration. And these experience, people and inspiration makes people create magic.
Coming to me, I am not fan of these. Simply because I am not the consuming kinds. Not passively. I want to be an active player in the dance of the universe around me. I want to not just have the front row seat, but actually build that seat!
Ok, I am getting into the rant zone. Will skip.
Oh, I did meet Balram to talk about films and all that. Was a very very interesting meeting. Let’s see where it goes. Wish I was like him! I wont say more here.
L/ Saw a Working Man, A Jason Statham Film.
I love him!
I ended up seeing 2 films in the week!
Must fix this.
M/ Mario
Been watching Mario run videos on YT. And its the most therapeutic thing ever. Here is one for your viewing pleasure.
So that was from the week!
Phew!
📷 Some Photos from the week gone by
Here are some photos from week 21.
I quite like some of the photos that have some lessons. I wish I could upload those here.
And no, this does not have my photos 😉
🈺 The LARGE objective from the week gone by? And the next week!
Book 2
No update. Again, please stay patient. I shall get back to this soon.
PS: Dropped 2025 Plan a few weeks ago.
☑️ 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. Didnt sleep well most of this week. Ate a lot of food that I shouldnt (not calling it Kachra, thanks J). Did a few pushups but that was that. A solid -1. Lol!
On this, addendum. When people realise that I am not well (when they see my tweets etc), they reach out to ask me how am doing. And I dont know how to reply to them. It gets awkward. Maybe going forward, I will not update my health conversations on public forums?
Meru. Was an ok week. Met a few people. Moved the needle. But still far from where I’d like to be. A 0.
C4E. Better than the last week. Cash flow remains a problem. This output for Foxo is kickass. I dont want to say -1. And I dont want to say +1. So a 0.
Brand SG. No action on this either. But some action. So a 0.
People. No action on this. I’d say 0.
Book 2. Lol!
-1
Shauk. Saw a couple of films. Met some new people. Not the best. But will have it 0.
So the overall score is -3 for this week.
Trends from the previous weeks: 0, -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
Looked at all the days I’ve missed 🙁
Must fix.
📖 Interesting Reads from the last week
I didnt read as much during the week. But I used my downtime to get some reading done. Here are some…
- Pritesh Jain’s Blog (on Punit’s Recommendation)
- This post by Balram
- PG’s new essay on good writing
- This tweet from Dharmesh Ba.
- This tweet from Hemant about taste, instinct and risks. Do read.
- Rick Rubin on The Way of Code. Probably the most impactful thing I read in the last week. This deserves a long discussion. I dont know when.
- This essay about Sarvam.
🧠 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. I dont think this would see any action anytime soon.
- 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 – doing this already.
- 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?
Busy for nothing.
I was busy for nothing. I had family over and thus I was busy for nothing specific.
Oh and in the previous weeks, the one-word reviews have been… 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
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.
PPPPPS: I “wrote” some part of this post using voice to text. Can yout spot what part?