Tag: Naval Ravikant

Wk 14-25 – Weekly Notes

Notes, thoughts and reflections from the week gone by.

Morning!
Started writing this on Saturday (April 5) and

This was probably the fastest week of 2025.
And I am glad that it’s over.
Here’s my review for the week gone by.
Oh, I am listening to this as I write this.

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

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

This has been consistent objective for the last few weeks. However, I have not been able to make any progress on these.

I can blame it on a lot of action at work. Actually, more than action, right now, its discussions and deliberations. I am hoping that once we have a team, I would have lot more time on hands. But as someone who takes pride in my ability to juggle things and do multiple things, this should have been easy for me. I need to find a way to solve this conundrum.

Anyhow, to summarise, I didnt make any progress on either of the goals. I need to buck up. I need to push myself more.

And like last time, I acknowledge that I didn’t work on these two.
I will try this week.

Moving on…

☑️ What did I get done this week?

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

At this point, the following things are important to me (I know too many but…) and these are IN ORDER.

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

Health. It was a terrible week. Sunday was the worst. I dont know what came over me. But I am back. Other days saw me with lack of sleep, eating kachra, no walks (except one day) and even happiness was questionable.
So, -1 there.

Meru. A lot of action here. Nothing specific in terms of what I can talk here.
So, a 0.

C4E. No action TBH. C is running the kitchen now. I am merely supporting. I have nothing to report here.
So, a 0.

Brand SG. No large actions. I did use AI to build some posts (will link further in the post) but nothing apart from that. This needs to more VERY VERY fast. So, I will be harsh on myself and give myself a -1.
So, a -1.

People. This was a clear -1. I did a few things that I shouldnt have. I mean I wont do them differently but I didnt know that it would have such large impact on people I care for. Apart from that I met some really interesting people that I look up to. So, if not for the snafu, I would have been a +1 on this.
So, a -1

Book 2. No action.
-1

Shauk. No large action. I am gonna travel to meet M. Maybe that counts? Maybe it doesnt. When I am evaluating myself, I want to give myself a harsh -1.
-1

So the overall score is -5 for this week. Same as last week.
Trends from the previous weeks: -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

Here’s the tracker.

What do you notice?

For me, the highlights are…

  1. I’ve stopped tracking my twitter updates. I think I can skip tracking this. I am habituated to write these. Lets see.
  2. A couple of days were not as good as I would want them to be.

What do you see?

📷 Some Photos from the week gone by

Here are some photos from the week gone by.

Not too many. Blame it on a busy week.

📖 Interesting Reads from the last week

I didnt have a lot of time to read or reflect in the last week but here are some that I did read…

  1. Naval’s podcast with Chris Williamson. I am at an hour and 30 mark. Took many many lessons. Saved some here.
  2. Akanksha Pandey’s March Reflections.
  3. This twitter thread explaining Kun Faya Kun
  4. How I’ve run major projects by Ben Kuhn. Here. At some point, I must write something similar. From Ben’s website, I spotted this post about how to write cold emails by Sriram K.
  5. This tweet by Erik
  6. This post by Morgan. A couple of quotes worth keeping are “The person who is desperate for attention and acceptance from a group of strangers is hardly different from the person begging for money on the street” and “The wild thing about all this effort is how easy it is to overestimate how much other people are thinking about you. No one is thinking about you as much as you are. They are too busy thinking about themselves.”

Next week on, I will also share a list of things that I share in my groups. I may not read all of those but I am sure it would be useful.

💭 Highlights, reflections and notes from the week.

Here are some from this week.

A/ Ankesh Kothari
Met Ankesh and as always, it was incredible to meet him. Among other things, he asked C and I this – “If you had to have dinner with any 3 people from history, who would they be? The answer shows who your heroes are. Then deconstruct what about them resonates, and you will have more clarity on your self.”

My dinner guests would include Steve, Charlie and Charles. Each is different from another – one was an individual poet, other was an investor and the third was an org builder. I should think more on this.

Who would be your three dinner guests?

B/ Rana Sir
Met Rana Sir for something. Went to his home. I almost didnt go but C reminded me that I need to. And thus, I went. As always, it was a brilliant three hours that I spent with him.

One of the things that came out of that meeting was my articulation that if I get physical proximity to young people, I can literally change their lives. Assuming they are willing to submit to me and they are willing to work hard. And then the follow up thought (that I didnt articulate to sir when I met him but was important) – that may be I am destined to be a coach and not a player. I am gonna be at best a Drona (not Eklavya, not Arjuna), a Ramakant (not a Sachin), a Coach Carter et al.

Something to think on. #currentThings

C/ Starbucks induced serendipity
I was at a random Starbucks far from home and I bumped into a classmate from MDI. And I used the opportunity to tell him about Meru. And about C4E. I dont know what would come out of that but it was incredible to have that farce-less chat with someone who knows me since 2004!

D/ Akanksha Pandey’s March Reflections.
One of the best pieces I’ve read in a long time. You must read it. I took a lot of notes. I learnt a lot about myself. I learnt a lot about AP. And thanks to this post, I have started to make public posts about what am thinking about. You may search for those here.

From her note, here’s a quote…

Fear, self doubt, self sabotage, procrastination, addiction, distraction, perfectionism… all can be overcome with stupidity, stubbornness, delusion, blind faith, obsession, arrogance & optimism.

PS: For the context, I had interviewed her for a role with me and she rejected me. Which is ok. But I’ve stayed connected and boy, am I glad! I knew that she would have pushed me to do more if I could get her around. But then as long as I am learning from her even from a distance, I am ok.

E/ Experiments with AI
I’ve been playing with some tools. Wrote two posts. Both via AI. I dont know what traffic would they get me. But it’s amazing that I can churn more content, faster. And I dont see a dip in quality!

I am also pushing C4E and Meru teams to become faster and better with the use of AI. We’ve made some strides. Commendable is AK and team’s foray on Labs with CQ. And then some more.

The ambition is that we would all be AI-enabled Centaurs (in words of Mihir) in the times to come and faster and sooner we get to that, better it is!

F/ Naval’s podcast with Chris
I have a 100 notes on this. I will make a separate post on it. At this time, I am saving my notes here. While I’ve captured this above, this needed a section in itself!

G/ Things I stand for.
Made a thread. I will update it as and when things change at my end.

To be read alongside Work With Me. And also see this photo album where I upload things that are important to me.

H/ People Snafu
I said something about someone that I know I shouldnt have. I cant get into details but I must write.

So, when I said what I said, I assumed what I said was innocuous, harmless, action-induing (I love to err on the side of action). That’s how I talk to people.

However, things were taken out of context, things were assumed without asking for clarification and then I was spoken in a not so cool tone.

I understand why I was spoken to the way I was spoken to. My actions hurt the other person. But then it was unintended. It was supposed to be a nudge in action and all that.

Anyhow. I am rambling. At this time, I know I didnt make a mistake. But I know my actions caused hurt. So, I am unequivocally sorry. I will try to do better.

I/ A-List Assholes
First. What is an A-List Asshole?
Someone who thinks they are A-list talent and are Assholes on top. They may or may not know that they are assholes!

Think of the most obnoxious, rude, unkind, tantrumy sports superstar or filmstar. And then port that person to the world of startups. Think of the rockstar coder that you know who’s also a bully. Steve Jobs would probably qualify to be an A-List asshole.

So, I was to interview someone for a client. And the guy turned out to be an A-List Asshole. I couldnt interview him (we couldnt agree on a calendar) but from the conversation, it seemed that the guy was heavily inspired by Silicon Valley types and was misplaced. Or may be I am misplaced. Irrespective. It was not going to work out. And thus I quickly retreated.

That’s a thing that I need to work on by the way. Stay away from A-list assholes. While it was ok for Steve to be one, in this day and age, I dont want those.

J/ Online selling Gurus
Met someone who told me about the work of these online gurus. You know people like Sadhguru, Robin Sharma, Brian Tracy, Tony Robbins, Dandapani, Dave Ramsey, Russell Brunson, Harv Eker, Chris Chroft and others.

For all the interest I have in cults, it was incredible to learn that cults and these sales conversations tend to be the same!

More on these some other day. But it was important to write and track.

K/ Venture Studios
I need to push C4E into becoming a venture studio. I’ve been reading about the likes of Tiny, Recurse, Late Checkout, Bending Spoon etc. Some of these may not be venture studios in the traditional sense but I like the idea of a small team building many things together.

Again, with Meru on the horizon, I may not get to do this with my time but I can nudge my kids!

Oh, here’s a thing. Most of my ideas are old ideas that I’ve been on since I was a child! I need to find a way to ship more and do more. I mean this venture studio idea, I’ve been on it since the beginning of time!

L/ 12K Steps #in2025
Made a bet of 50K with Annkur that at the end of this year, I will have averaged 12K steps. I made a similar bet with Subhendu. Let’s see.

This also reminds me that I will not have climbed the Mt Everest by Jan 1, 2026. Sigh.

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

  1. Found money on the road, two times, on one single walk. And I was listening to Naval’s podcast while I found that. Maybe that’s a sign!
  2. While listening to Naval, I was left thinking, should I get into podcasting fulltime?
  3. Implemented Paras Chopra’s TDL at C4E. See this tweet. Been 5 days and so far my score is 0. Lol!
  4. Met some clients for C4E for quick meetings. Not to pitch anything. Not to sell anything. Only to say hi. It’s incredible how many people have supported me on my journey! Eternally grateful.
  5. My back has started to give me trouble. I need to find a chiropractor or a masseuse. I dont want to go to a doctor. The skin thing is also spreading. So that needs fixing.
  6. Met Paras and asked him a few questions about this business. Must push him more.
  7. The number of times I wore pants and traveled this week to Nariman Point – I am reminded why I didn’t do the “regular life” all this while. Once we get an office, this will hopefully get fixed!
  8. Been thinking about US tariffs. Saw some videos. Read some but I am not able to wrap my head about how it would impact and what would the second order effects be. If you are aware, please share and help!

🧠 Reminders from last week

I am adding this section. To capture things that I want to not forget. I will copy paste these week on week and track updates. I will also add these to SG’s Office.

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

  1. Health
    • Kitchen setup (incomplete)
    • Gym membership (incomplete)
  2. C4E things
    • C4E Base
    • Design
    • Borderless agency
  3. Shauk / Personal
    • Poker
    • Better dressed SG
    • Use of money / time
    • Love
    • Demand more from life

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

🥡 So, one thing that defines the past week?

Busyness. For nothing. Going forward, I will change this.

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

—

Ok!
This is it for the week gone by.
Late by a day but here nonetheless.
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

Wk 13-25 – Weekly Notes

Notes and thoughts from Week 13, 2025

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

So, with that, let’s go!

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

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

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

Moving on…

☑️ What did I get done this week?

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

At this point, the following things are important to me (I know too many but…) and these are IN ORDER.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Book 2. No action. -1.

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

So the overall score is -3 for this week. Same as last week.
Trends from the previous weeks: -3, -2, -1
The max I can get is 7 in a week. Let’s see when I get to it.

📊 The tracker from the last week

Here’s the tracker.

What do you notice?

For me, the highlights are…

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

That’s it I think.

📷 Some Photos from the week gone by

Here are some photos from the week gone by.

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

📖 Interesting Reads from the last week

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

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

💭 Highlights, reflections and notes from the week.

Here are some from this week.

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

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

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

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

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

Nothing has changed since I wrote that.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

F/ Rejection
A candidate rejected me at Meru.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And I said…

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

And finally, my advice was…

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

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

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

Phew that was a lot for the week.

🧠 Reminders from last week

I am adding this section. To capture things that I want to not forget. I will copy paste these week on week and track updates.

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

  1. Health
    • Kitchen setup
    • Gym membership
  2. C4E
    • C4E Base
    • Design
    • Borderless agency / Upwork
  3. Shauk / Personal
    • Poker
    • Better dressed SG
    • Use of money / time
    • Love
    • Demand more from life

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

🥡 So, one thing that defines the past week?

Action.

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

—

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

PS: This series of posts is inspired by Thej and his weekly notes. The previous editions are here: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09 (missed), 10, 11, 12

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

Mild Success vs Wild Success

What do you want to be? A mildly successful person? Or a wildly successful one that has made a dent?

This is a rehash of an old SoG Letter that I wrote way back in Jan 2019. Original here.

This post is inspired by two things. 

A. This tweet. Link.

The tweet is a quote by NN Taleb and it says, “Mild success can be explainable by skills and labor. Wild success is attributable to variance.”

Side Note. NN Taleb is one of the most influential thinkers of contemporary times. His concepts on Black Swan, Antifragile and Skin in the Game have shaped my thinking and my approach to work. Oh, and I have the rare distinction of being blocked by him! 

B. A conversation with AS that made me think hard about the kind of things I want to do in life. He asked me what was my grand plan for life. And while I have thought often and thought hard about this, I was for the first time that I could put it in words. Thank You, AS for asking that question.

So, while thinking of the answer, I knew that I wanted to be a Wildly Successful person (and not just a mildly successful one).

And what is this Wildly Successful person?

Lemme start by defining the two. 

Mild success is a few millions, some cars, luxurious life, respect from your peers, considerable impact within your community and so on and so forth.

Example?
CEOs like Indira Nooyi. These people rest on the laurels of an organisation where they “work” and paddle carbonated water. 

Wild success is billions, irreverence for cars or luxury, actions that impact the whole of humanity and like Steve said, the ability to push the human race forward!

Example?
CEOs like Steve Jobs. These people actually created products that have enabled almost all creative people to do more. 

Thing is, Indira Nooyi could do so well because she was and is smarter than your average business executive and she worked really hard and stayed on the course. Most of my classmates from MDI would chart the same path to being mildly successful. They are smart, work hard and are on their way to the top of their corporate ladders. By itself, it’s not a wrong thing, to be honest. Who doesn’t like 2 cars, 2 houses, 2 kids, 2 house helps, 2 club memberships et al?

But then, this life is not for me.

I’d rather be Steve. Steve Jobs could get wildly successful because of what he worked on, how he worked, the kind of things he did, the decisions he made and all that gave him that shot at sending the ball out of orbit (and not just the park). And while he did all that, he had his quirks, he lived life on her terms, and he chase things that he believed were right. And along the way, inspired others.

Of course, he got lucky. Numerous times. Luck had to play a part in his wild success but the path he was on was not going to ever make him just mildly successful. It was either going to be wild. Or it was going to take him to ruin. Something Elon stands for. Even Warren for that matter.

So that!

Wait. Is there a lesson? Is there a point to this post?

So, the lesson thus ladies and gents is twofold. 

A. Understand what kind of success you chase. Wild. Mild.
I know I do. You? 

B. Once you know what you are chasing (mild or wild), if you are chasing, look at what others in the same league (mild or wild) did and then tread the same path.

It is that simple! Rest is a function of effort, consistency, time, luck and variance. Over and out!

Lemme know what you think. 

PS: When I thought about I'd like to become wildly successful and when I thought about the kind of people I think I want to become (I will not get into details but some people that I want to be like are Chris Sacca, Tim Ferriss, Naval Ravikant, Jason Calacanis, Chamath Palihapitiya and others), I realised that there is a clear pattern. These people have a LOT in common. Here's a small list... 

- Great deal-making ability
- Envious network. Especially, a large set of loose connections that are willing to look past the biases that close friends may have
- Ability to communicate well
- The knack of spotting trends
- A very big bias towards action
- High-agency

I am sure there are more things that I can't spot right now. Just that to be able to create this variance that takes from your mild to wild, you ought to at least have what these guys have. Get the drift?

030821 – Morning Pages

A longish post on the darkness in my head and the light shown by the story of Richard Williams.

5:41. Woke up a few minutes ago.
Saw Whatsapp first thing in the morning.
Saw a video by Vijay Yadav. This one.

Then I saw Nobody’s trailer on AnSr’s recommendation. Here…

Almost cummed in my shorts. I mean the team from John Wick + Saul (aka Bob) + Music + Visual Delight. Wow.

Also, this is the second film since yesterday that I have been tripping over. The first one is King Richard sent by VG.

This film is based on the life of Richard Williams (better known as Venus and Serena’s father). King Richard touched me like no other film has, in the recent past. I mean it talks about an ambitious man that wants to see success through the success of his daughters. Will come back to this film in a bit. Lemme park it here. Point A.

So, I feel human after two days.

Human as in, physically, there are no lingering pains anywhere in the body. I feel refreshed, energized, and all that. It was probably aided by the fact that I have been resting last two days. I had slept at 10:30. So good 7 hours of sleep. Or maybe because I did not eat crap yesterday. Whatever worked yesterday, I hope it works today as well.

In contrast to this feeling of greatness in the morning, yesterday was bad. So bad that it was probably the darkest of the last few days. It may sound like hyperbole but I could only survive because of two things – 1, Naval. 2, my ambition. Will come back to this in a bit. Parked point B.

So, for some reason (money situation primarily), I spent all of yesterday questioning my life choices. I mean where I am is an outcome of the choices I’ve made and the way I’ve acted on those choices. Clearly, I did not do a good job at either (choices and actions). If things were bad just at work / career front, I would still be ok. But things have been pathetic at other ends also. Lemme share a chart that I maintain on my vision board. I don’t think I’ve ever made this public. But here it is. As of today morning.

A screengrab from my Vision Board

I don’t know where I found this chart from but I think it’s a great way to evaluate and measure where life is. And you can then reflect on what needs fixing. On my chart, I can see that I am failing at all 8 important things in life. The only saving grace is my family (and even on that, I choose to live away from my parents).

Of course, like any other thinking, feeling, evaluating individual, I want to fix these. And these dark days are occurring frequently and like Steve would say, if things arent good for a few days on the trot, maybe it’s the time to change those. Let’s see what I change. And how. And when.

Lemme talk about King Richard.

Coming to Parked Thing A, King Richard.

Here. See this. In case you haven’t.

I could relate so much to King Richard. I had tears flowing when I saw the trailer. I bet the film will win all the awards there are! I wager that it would get at least 10 Oscars.

It is after all a story of one man’s fight against odds, the chase of impossible, trust, faith, patience, hard work, grit and more. Oh, and of ambition.

For all the use of the word ambition in my head, thoughts, and actions, I am as big a failure as they come. To a point that it hurts. And it’s suffocating.

The days when I am not busy with the general humdrum of life, you know, the days when you can take a pause and think? Those days I spiral so bad into the literal abyss that I take literally a week to get out of. I must admit that the days I go AWOL on friends and family, I am not physically unwell. Rather I am suffering from dark thoughts about where I want to in life and how far away from that I am. In terms of money wealth, impact, reach, work, fame, notoriety, even fitness. And the worse is that from where I stand, I don’t see things improving at all.

As I age, these bouts of dark days are happening with more frequency (I know I’ve said this already) and it takes longer to get out of those. The escape mechanism I had of taking a car and hitting the road is no longer a viable option. The other escaping method was to eat like a mad man, switch off the phone, and sleep. Even that doesn’t help anymore.

This is where I lean on what I learned from Naval. Will come to it in a bit. I want to stay with King Richard right now.

So, the other thing that I picked from King Richard is the reinforcement of the belief that I will probably not be a massive success as an individual. Rather I may be cut for being that person in the shadows, the one that works with these superstars and shapes them. You know, someone that sees their success come to life via others. In Richard’s case, it was his daughters. In my case, I am not sure. I mean I do have a few young ones that I am investing into. But I am still far from seeing them reach anywhere. I just hope that I don’t end up like Vikramaditya in Sur. Anyhow. Who cares.

I like the idea of enabling others. I just hope I am able to contribute to their lives and make superstars and massive successes off them.

The other thing that I want to talk about, from King Richard, is this entire thing about giving a hard time to the ones that are working for you. Remember Whiplash? I mean the entire premise is this hard-love for talented apprentices. Of course, I remain conflicted about what I take away from that. On one side, I like the idea of hard work, determination, sacrifice to achieve what you potentially can. And on the other, I know that mental health issues are real, especially with the dopamine-laced brains of kids around us. After I saw King Richard, I think I am leaning towards being a tough mentor. But then, to be one, do I have what a Richard had? Or Fletcher?

I dont know. Time shall tell.

Parked Thing B. Lessons from Naval Ravikant.

Lemme talk about Naval and Ambition.

So I read this tweet from Naval that said something like this – you can’t control your thoughts but you can observe them and choose to react to those.

Yesterday was one such day. When I was mindfucked. Probably because I was unwell and there were other things playing on my head. So I went walking. I walked real slow. I did like 5K steps in 2 hours. And while I walked I did not have a companion with me. You know, things like phone calls, music, videos, chess and more. I did not even pause to take photos that I’ve been trying to last few days. I merely watched my thoughts. And I tried not to react to the non-stop dark thoughts about my inability to do things. Or my inability to hold onto friends / relationships etc. I merely observed the thoughts as they came and went. It was tough considering I had to observe traffic in / around Lokhandwala as well. Lol. Bad timing.

So I while I was observing my thoughts, my head kept swirling back to the definition of success that I want to live my life with. You know, the outcome of ambition. It dawned on me that I believe success is the long-forgotten Kabir Das ka doha. It goes…

Saain itna dijiye, jaame kutumb samaay, main bhookha naa rahoon, sadhu na bhookha jaaye

Kabir the poet

Further, here are the things that I thought would look like success.

Mastery over time. When I can be the master of my time with 100% certainty. Right now, I am at about 5% in terms of how I plan my life and time. Long way to go.

Financial Freedom. When I no longer work for money. And I can choose to work on things that I want to, even if I am not rewarded for those things. Right now, I am in debt. So far far away from financial freedom.

Plus, I do not have those ambitions where I want to reduce consumption, etc. I really want a lavish life with all comforts and all that. I want to be able to buy anything from anywhere without thinking about the cost / price.

Giant with a shoulder. When I can support others around me with whatever they need / want. And then I want to help others in whatever way I can!

That’s it. Three things.
Wow, that simple!

Funnily, as I think and write about this, family (my family, not my parents) doesn’t feature in this. Maybe I will change with time. And my personal goals of Everest, Marathon, etc do not fit in here as well. Hmm. Funny.

So yeah.

This is about it from the walk yesterday. A lot of this was probably triggered by King Richard. And by the general failure that I’ve been. Films do have power like no other. Must must must fastrack the non-existent films career. Come on, Universe!

I guess this is about it for the day. Realized, I’ve been writing for almost 2 hours now! Oh, and here’s streaks…

  • OMAD – 1
  • #book2 – 0
  • #noCoke – 145
  • #noCoffee – 0. Had two.
  • #aPicADay – 0
  • Money spent – 30 + 232. Adding this from today on.
  • Killer Boogie – 0
  • 10K steps a day – 2
  • Surya Namaskar – 0
  • 10 mins of meditation – 0
  • Minimaslism Counter – -2
  • Morning Pages / Meditations – 235

260321 – Meditations

A quick post on insignificant things that could only be important to me! Such as rechristening of Morning Pages to Meditations.

7:51. Andheri .

It’s official. I am rechristening morning pages as meditations. I am not sure what Morning Pages was supposed to capture but I do know that these short posts that I write before I start my day are like meditations. Quite discussions with myself where I think by writing about things that are clouding my head. I talk about my fears and hopes and ambitions and ideas and thoughts and I am very very naked while I do that. This is what people like Naval and Marcus would call meditations. Probably. I am calling it these pages meditation. Took me just 105 days to do so ;P

So the COVID situation in Mumbai continues to be scary. Another day when we had more than 5000 cases. And yet I continue to hang out at Starbucks. I have one eye on the clock as I write this. I like the idea of an empty cafe, AC on full blast, and me pacing around while I think about whatever I am working on. Which is a lot of things ;P

The other thing that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about is this film that I wanted to make during the lockdown about those universal 36 questions that apparently bring people together (even though it has never worked for me). With the Aram Nagar piece on its way, I think it’s time I start thinking about the 36 Questions as well. Wait. Am I not repeating the pattern where I start a new thing before I finish an old one? Grrr, Mr. Garg.

In other news, I’ve been fasting since 1 AM of the 25th. So I am over 24 hours. I am thinking if I can manage to fast today as well, I will start Keto from tomorrow for about 2 weeks. If nothing else, it will help me lose weight. Keto works for me for sure. Everytime I’ve done it, I have seen results (only to gain the weight back) but may be this time it’s different? After all each day when you wake up, you get up with the hope that today is different. No?

This is about it for the day. I do have a LOT to write (I met a friend yesterday and she made me realize all the things that I do wrong and I need to work on those. I need to write about those, think on those and fix those). But not today. I need time to process (those inputs were pointed at the very core of who I am and how I operate in life. I need to either go on a drive or think deeply about those before I can being to put them in open. Need to take a few hours to write that piece. Let’s see when I get to do it. I may go for a drive with VG tonight. If that happens, I will get all the time to think about things.

Makes me realize how bad I want a car and the ability to take off without waiting for something, someone. Damn, Mr. Garg. Control your horses.

Chalo, gotta go. Before I go, here’s the streaks…

  • Morning Pages – 105
  • #aPicADay – 85
  • 10K steps a day – 0
  • OMAD – 0. Been fasting since 1 AM of the 25th Mar. So 24+ hours. Gunning for 48.
  • #noCoffee – 16
  • #noCoke – 16
  • 10 mins of meditation – 0
  • #book2 – 0.

030321 – Morning Pages

I feel I have a lot to tell / write. But the words are not flowing 🙁

7:49 AM.

So yesterday I had a funny day. The stars had never aligned so well for anything ever in my life. I had two-three conversations open about various things and EACH of those moved along and actually closed! I mean, not just moved forward but actually closed.

I was chasing these for various lengths of time. One was first proposed some 2 years ago! Just that all these landed at the same time. So yay! Guess that’s how things are. You chisel at things for long and one fine day, they close. Now, need to deliver on those and move on to other things. Also reminds me of the idea of optionality by Naval.

The track of the day is one of the most iconic Punjabi music pieces ever – Mundiya Tu Bach Ke Rahi. See it here. #note2self – Must learn dance.

The one after this is the background music for the film Lootera. It’s here.

What else?

Oh yeah. I am back to Mumbai today. I have this meeting with a client and I can’t do that online. Plus the things that have worked out that I spoke about earlier? They will require me to meet various people to be able to do those well. Once I start, I can be remote. So that’s cool. With this, I think the Mumbai vs Goa debate is getting settled.

Ok, I don’t know what else to write. Words are not flowing :(. There’s a lot on my head but I can’t seem to pen those. Lemme put bullet points.

  1. I was talking to SG2 yesterday and as always she gave me a great perspective on things. I wish I had as much intelligence as her!
  2. For one of the calls where I did not have to make notes, I used a high table as a standing desk and it was amazing. I need to get one. Let’s see how I do that.
  3. …

No, not even the bullets is helping. Words are just not flowing 🙁

I think this is it for the day. More tomorrow.

260221 – Morning Pages

I talk about two interesting things. 1, Goa and home. 2, optionality. Read on.

8:22. The balcony at Rajesh Sir’s house, Goa. Back here after 15 odd days.

A funny thing happened yesterday. When I came here after a month, for some reason, it felt like homecoming. I am not kidding. I am not the one to get attached to places etc but this time, the house felt like home. Maybe because I was here at a time when a lot was happening in my life and I did not know what to do. A lot is still happening but this place was my solace in the toughest time. I am so grateful that I have him in my life.

Moving on.

I need to take a big decision about what I want to do in life. I have a couple of options where I can exchange my time for money, make ends meet and get back to some sort of stability. While all these things sound great on paper, I know that in the long-run for a 38-year old like me, these things don’t add up. Plus, salary is addictive.

One of the things I am thinking about while making this decision is Naval’s riff on optionality. He operates in a way that allows him to maximize optionality. As a salaried person, the odds of you increasing optionality go down. Unless you are like Rajan Anandam where you, by design, need to interact with people from diverse backgrounds and those backgrounds help you do more.

When choosing things for myself, I need to work towards creating optionality. Now, what creates optionality? Well, things that allow you to do more than what your job entails. If you are a doctor, there are fairly limited things that you can do. I mean you can treat people and heal them and all that but that’s that. Unless you are an exception that can, may be, write. Of course, as a doctor, you’d have a good life but that’s that. If you are a coder, on the other hand, you can create a thing like Bitcoin that allows you to live a life independent of your practice. Similarly, if you are a senior executive with some pharma company, you are limited to doing what your JD entails. If the company were to shut down, where would you go? Of course, if you are paid a bomb, you can invest tiny parts into businesses that have the potential of growing into larger ones. That creates optionality. In fact, subconsciously, I have lived all my life in a way that I have an option open in terms of what I want to do.

So that.

What else. Yeah. Fitness. Last few days I have been feeling unwell. I don’t know whats causing this but I need to fix it. Maybe its the food. I think I need to get either a balanced meal from someplace. Or get a kitchen. Either way, I need to fix it. Want to add workouts but I dont think I will ever be able to. I know Everest will require me to be fit and all. But I think till I figure out other things, fitness will probably take a backseat.

Guess this is it for the day. This context switching is not for me. I don’t know how other digital nomads do this. Need to learn.

With this, over and out. See you guys on the other side. Now that I am back in Goa, hope things will move better. And no, no #book2. Will start that once I settle in.

PS: Funny how narratives on these morning posts have changed from meaning of life to survival. Guess that’s life!

260121 – Morning Pages

What if you could treat life as a video game? You know, you play the game of life. And not just live or go through the motions.

7:09. Woke up about 10 mins ago. With a stomach ache. I think it’s the Maggi and Coke combination that is fucking my system Or all the coffee I had. Or the heartburn from the lack of Internet and all that. Something has to be done about the food situation.

Anyhow. So yesterday was super eventful. I had some million calls to make and in between had to sort a billion other things. And as expected the Internet decided to not work. The Vodafone signal decided to disappear. People decided to be at their worst. Sigh.

But then there was this silver lining as well. The opportunity to talk to a few entrepreneurs that are still building their business, thanks to Spotlight (an event that we at Podium have cooked to get aspiring entrepreneurs and investors together). It was so gratifying to talk to them and try and see that there’s so much that I can do. This is what I have been gunning for, all my life! I wrote this thread about it. It is here.

The larger thing here is that this looks close to what I want to be doing in life. You know, life purpose.

Which is what? Create opportunities for others! I have realized that I may not be the kind to go super deep into things but I am definitely the one that can look at the large picture and recommend simple shifts and nudges. It is amazing to see the aha moment come on their faces when I point out these simple things!

Of course, I am not the only one that is doing this. There are so many more people out there that do a better job. But then that does not diminish what I do. And I think I need to scale these things.

The other thing that happened and what I want to sort of write a #SoG on is equating life to a video game. Lemme give some backstory. As a kid, I loved those 8-bit Nintendo video game machines and game cartridges. You know, Contra, Mario and all that? But these were expensive things and you couldn’t buy either the game or the cartridges. So we’d rent them from local stores. This was probably my early exposure to timeshare, I guess. And because these were rented, we’d have limited time with those. Which meant that within a day or two I had to play out the entire game. I had to play to till my heart was full, till I had killed the boss, till I had got to the princess, till I had found all the hidden easter eggs, till I had found the bug that gave me unlimited lives in Mario, till I could boast that I have cleared all of 8 stages of Contra without losing a life. All this had to be done in a limited time. The time that I did not have – I had a school to go to, watchful parents, one family TV where I could hook the machine, the enmity on the cricket ground and I don’t know what all.

But somehow, I could manage the game.

Yesterday when I was thinking about things in life, somehow this dawned onto me – what if I treat life as a game? What if I am in the game? I need to play it out. I need to defeat the Boss. I need to get the princess. I need to find the wrap zones to help finish the game faster. I need to master the moves. I need to find the equivalent of up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, start for this game called Life.

And suddenly, all the fuckery, all the issues in life, all the things that have been affecting me started to look like problems that I could try and solve. And to the brain I’ve been given if you throw a problem at me, I will try to solve it and find an answer!

So that!

What if things that affect you, you try to look at those like a problem that needs to be solved? What if you play it like a game? You know, learn for the first few stages, level up your skills, acquire new powers, solve challenges that are increasingly tougher, get rewarded with coins that trick your brain into releasing dopamine. Listen to this clip. Do you think you feel good instantly?

Oh, man! there are so many of these people playing the Mario track. I just went down the rabbit hole. There is a guy on the guitars, another on two guitars, there an entire orchestra, there is a guy beatboxing! I can waste an entire day listening to these. And as I type this, I have this silly smirk on my face!

Wait. Coming back.

If I you treat life like a game, things probably will look better. Life’s a game and you have a limited time with it and you need to play and learn and evolve and beat the boss. As simple as that.

Guess that’s it. There is more that I wanted to talk about. Lemme try quick bullets. Dont want this to become a tome.

1. I realized that working for someone else comes with its challenges of managing other people’s egos. You don’t need to be just good at what you do, but you have to know how to navigate the corporate jungles and dirty politics that people engage in.

2. The freelance life doesn’t exactly set you free. You are still exchanging your time for money. What sets you free is a thing that makes money even when you are asleep. Like Naval says, you need leverage. Need to get to that.

3. For a change, I am not inspired by anything to do with the Republic Day. Far cry from the staunch nationalist that I was growing up. I think this is a good thing and a bad thing. Good – I am not being a jingoist. Bad – I am sort of losing my identity! I am as Indian as they come!

4. I saw that I had written in the last few days on #freewriting for #book2. I realised that most times, what I write for book2 is inspired by what’s happening in life around me. Now that’s not cool. I am not here to write a biography. The idea is to write a fictional story that entertains people!

So that. I wish I had the time to write more. Each time I write, I get some more clarity. I think I think the best when I am either writing. Or talking.

Chalo, onto #freewriting for #book2 for the day. I hope today’s post is not something that happened to me! I am at 8:45. Will write till 9:15.

Here we go…

“You know Chintan, love for me has to be that all-engulfing fire that rages on. I want to be consumed with it. I want to revel in the misery of knowing that you are around and yet you are not.” Rujuta was getting poetic.

Chintan was anything but poetic, “I get it”

“No you dont, you liar. How did you even keep that straight face on TV?”, Rujuta slapped his wrist.

“I was naive. And the cameras were of shitty quality back then!” Chintan replied plainly and ran his hand through her hair.

This was their first time they were alone after they had sort of acknowledged that they were more than just acquaintances. Both of them had scars from their previous relationships – Rujuta’s gashes were deeper than Chintan’s. Their scars had made them nomads, they were drifting through life aimlessly. But both of them were now at a point in life where they felt the need to have that comforting person to come back home to. No, they did not acknowledge this yet. Not to themselves. Not to each other. Not to the world. There’s time and place for everything.

“But you know, Rujuta, life’s not as simple as we make it to me.” Chintan egged on. He had still not told her that he was still married. Not that Rujuta would care. But it was still a big deal.

“You’re telling me?”

“I know what you’ve been through but Raju there’s a lot more about me that you need to know.” Chintan had started to call Rujuta that. In her entire life, no one had ever given that as a nickname. She wanted to hate it but she couldn’t pinpoint a rational reason to do so. There was nothing wrong with it, except it sounded like the nickname of a man. She was still not used to the name though and it still felt alien, impersonal.

“I know I need to know more of you. You need to know more about me. Isn’t that what relationships are about? Each day you discover more of your partner. You get more obsessed with each other. You cant take your mind off each other.”

“Bro, you are talking like a 16-year old romantic in conversation with her 42-year old lover.”

“You are 42. And you make me feel like a 16-year old!”

The playful banter was going exactly how they had imagined it to. If Tarana could see Rujuta reveling like that with another man, she would probably sleep better!

***

Ok enough. Was tough – romance is not my strong suit.

Over and out!

As always, if you want to get these updates on your WhatsApp everyday, lemme know. I will add you to the broadcast list.

Hope today’s better!

271220 – Morning Pages

I talk about, well, morning pages. And I talk about music, films, people, ideas and more. In a nutshell, just another day 🙂

8:51 AM

Another day when I woke up late.

That’s cool. I am finally in the Goa state of mind, you know, not worried about work or money. For a change. Guess the hippi-isation of me is complete.

So morning pages for the day. Since I started asking people about this, am getting great feedback. Note2Self. Stop using “great” a lot. The word has been sort of patented by someone greater that is hoping to make his country great again. I love how you create such slogans. I wish I could!

On the morning pages, BG told me that these are not meant to rant and then seek feedback. I agree with her and while I may rant, the intention is not at all to seek feedback. Ranting and being critical is my nature. I like being ultra harsh on myself and others around me. I have had people drift away from me cos of this. And you know what, it has worked well for me so far. So I am ok. Maybe once I stop being harsh, I will know if the harshness was actually working!

So despite BG’s input, I will continue with the morning pages in the same manner that I have been going in. Though I would take Krishna’s input on making these more about ideas and less about reflection and future-gazing.

Lemme start with a few ideas.

Remember that caretaker-hustler that I talked about a few day ago that is trying to sell me a disputed property? He’s back. This time he has a 4 bedroom place that he wants to sell for a crore and a half. I am not sure how he’s getting these fancy notions about me. Poor thing doesn’t know that am not known to have a penchant for real-estate deals.

Yesterday was a particularly useful day for ideas. Spoke to two Nikhils and talked about two different ideas. One related to events. Other related to content. The two things that I think I know well. Not sure which one of these would work but I realized that I need to be able to sit across the table to crack such conversations. I am not being able to do these virtual meetings and conversations well. Guess I am too old. Wait. Why do I want to abuse the older generation? Most seem to have taken it well. It’s me who’s an anomaly.

The thinking that I did on book2 in the first few days of moving here? That seems to have taken a back seat. That’s the thing about creative projects. If you stop working on those, work stops! So need to get going on that.

Oh, while I am writing, I am tripping on music from Dangal. Here.

Back to morning pages.

So ideas.

While talking to NA yesterday, I realized that I am more of an idea man than anything else. The trouble is that there are way too many idea-men around me. And everyone has learned that adage that ideas are a dime-a-dozen and execution is what matters. So, my value is diminished per se. That probably needs changing. Either, the ideas get so superlative that you can’t ignore. Or you find a partner that is as cool with execution. Like a Shikha. Or Prakruti. Or Akshay.

Wait. Rather than talking about ideas, lemme talk of an idea.

So, today I am supposed to go watch a filmscreening at the Museum of Goa. It is followed by a talk with the writer and the actors. There are some big names here. What if I put the film festival in motion at this venue? The guy clearly has a screening space for films. I have had this idea to do a screening festival for at least 2 years, if not forever. So, why not?

Here’s another idea

Get a house in Goa and convert that into a BnB. That challenges obviously is to manage guests in the times of COVID. But from what I am seeing, there are people that have moved here lock, stock and barrel. And there are people that are moving in for a few weeks, few months to work from here. If nothing else, it is solid passive income. Need someone to throw in the money though.

That’s the thing. Money gets money. Even WEB had access to money when he started his partnerships.

In absence of that, like Naval says, you need a network to create opportunities. And that will probably be the trip for me in 2021. I have stayed away from creating networks and time and again I have seen people reach places they don’t deserve just because they can network their way in. No, I am not sore at those people. I am surprised that I missed this simple fact. If there is one lesson that I can pass on to the next generation, I would say they ought to go to the fanciest schools, colleges, live in places that are above their means, get memberships at clubs, play golf and so on and so forth. These are the places where you get to meet interesting people. If there was a social network to get all these people online, I’d love to join that. ASmallWorld did that well in early 2000s. I don’t know where they are. Maybe create a platform for such people in Goa to interact with each other? What could this platform be built on top of? A Who’s Who guide in Goa? A magazine? Do people still read magazines? A physical club? Like Soho House? Again, do people frequent clubs anymore? And will people travel in Goa? Will have to think more. What do you think?

Ok, the last bit for the day.

Living in Public.

Everyone knows about building in public. A movement where start-up founders are creating businesses in public. They share what they are upto. They share the lessons. They talk about failures. They do small experiments to see what sticks. They pivot fast. Each pivot is public (far cry from the secrecy that typical startups are known for)

I think this living in public is going to be the future of life. It would make you more accountable, more accessible, more human, more authentic, more connected, more consistent. It would reveal your true nature. You know, like you are naked. If everything you did, even in the privacy of your bedroom were to be published on the front page of a newspaper, how would you change?

In one of the unpublished pieces I wrote for one of my books, I talk of a guy that dies in his bathtub. The guy outwardly is an Alpha, a macho. But he has these ducks floating in his bathtub. Imagine when the world finds that, how would it change your reputaiton? That!

So yeah. I want to talk more and more about this living in public. May be write a manifesto or something that encourages others to do so.

It beings immense peace when you know that you dont have to keep pretences!

With this, its over and out for the day.

See you guys on the other side.

953 AM

PS: Every time I publish these morning pages, I send these to a few friends on WhatsApp. In case you want to be added to the broadcast list, lemme know.

Hello, Morning Pages (Day 1)

Say hello to a new project, this one hopefully will last a lifetime.

Read on.

I just started reading The Artists Way by Julia Cameron (buy at Amazon) and one of the things she says an artist must do is write three pages every day in the morning.

These three pages don’t need to be publishing quality prose and can be as simple as an unfiltered stream of thoughts that is not meant to be seen by anyone. And these are not related to any project that you are on. This is just penning whatever comes to your head. You know, brain vomits. Heck, she even says that you don’t have to publish this. She says that this exercise is like a meditative trance that you put yourself into, just that the object that you focus on is the words that come out of your head (and not breadth in most other meditative practices).

I think there is merit in doing this. My best work has happened when I have been regular. When I have been showing up without any expectation or an agenda. Even TNKS happened when I was writing every day on my blog and one of the posts couldn’t seem to end!

However, the thing with such projects is that I tend to lose interest after a bit. I don’t want to lose interest with this one. Writing is THAT important to me! May be I can appoint a few monitors? Say Vivek. Or Arti. Or Krishna. The day I don’t post this in the first half (that’s the point of the morning pages), I would consider it default and I would get penalized for it. Say 1000 bucks for each day I miss? And yeah, I ought to do this even if I am traveling. If I am alive, I need to write a morning page. How about that?

Of course, there would be days when I know I won’t be able to write. If I inform these people at least a day prior, I can take a break.

The more I think about it, the more I think that the idea at some level is similar to what Naval says about 60 minutes of meditation every day. He advocates sitting idle and letting your thoughts run amok. Julia asks us to write. In both, I think the key tenets are a daily routine, flushing your head off whatever is clouding it, and spending time with self.

Oh, by the way, Julia says asks us that these morning pages don’t have to be shared per se. But you know me. How can I do something and not drum about it to the world?

Now, as a reader that may want to read these, here are some “rules” that I want to put forth.

  1. These would be my unedited, unfiltered thoughts. And thus could be happy, sad, cribby, ranty, boring, interesting, etc.
  2. I will NOT correct typos on this one. May become an eye-sore for you as a reader but that’s that.
  3. I will endeavor to write 1000 words every day, give or take. Or write for 30 minutes. I know it’s a lot but let’s see how many I get in.
  4. Some days when I don’t have a computer with me, I will write with pen and paper and I will take a picture and upload it to this blog as and when I get time. May be I’ll write on the phone. If not even that, I will do a voice note. Something will happen for sure.
  5. I will not focus on paraphernalia around writing on WordPress. So, no tags, no SEO optimization etc.

So yeah. Morning Pages.

Today was day 1. Lets see how many days I do this.

PS: You know how things that you seek find you? That!

I spotted someone reading this book at a Starbucks and at a whim I ordered it. I am about 50 pages in and so far I like it. I can see myself recommending the book to others.

PPS: When I read the first few pages, I see that Julia talks about writing and creativity being spiritual practices and she connects it to God. As a non-believer, I was tempted to dismiss the idea and discard the book. But the struggling writer in me wanted to continue. So I did. I see value in what she says and I am reading the book assuming that God is the teacher and spirituality is the routine that we need to create.

PPPS: Writing on WordPress in these blocks is a pain. But I will find a workaround.

PPPPS: I realized I am happy when I am writing. Even if what I write is not read by anyone around. This post is giving me kicks that a beach is not. Guess I am the happiest when I create. I don’t know why. But I am. So, may be, in life, I need to be a creationist even though I don’t want to create any babies per se. M&m is more than enough!