10:30 AM
Nov 15, 2025
Starbucks, Versova
Completing this on morning of the Nov 17th
Its been two weeks since I’ve written this.
Life happened; which I will come to shortly. But if I look at the trend, I have been pushing these posts to alternate weeks for the last three weeks. Maybe I need to change the cadence to that?
So, a large part of why I’ve not been able to publish is that I no longer have free weekends. I don’t get the time to reflect on things and thus I don’t get time to write.
I don’t like this, to be honest and I would like to change. Lets see when and how.
The other thing is, this update takes well over 4 hours for me to write (over 2-3 sittings). Which I am ok to be honest. I think of this as my weekly journal that keeps me sane. Plus this gives me an illusion of control.
The messy part is to update the trackers. And I know that tracking is as important as the commentary. And I want to do a decent (not perfect, not great) job at it. The days when I feel I am unable to even do the decent, I tend to procrastinate. And then things spiral.
Ok, enough. Lets get started.
Oh, the tracks of the post are Rolling in the deep and Believer. The second link is to a playlist. Enjoy while you read this post.
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💭 Highlights, reflections, updates and notes from the past two weeks
And no, these are not in any order.
1/ Mahabharata
For context, I had taken a challenge to write 100 posts in 100 days, each inspired by a story from Mahabharata. And a lesson from thereon.
I could only write 43 of those. Here’s a list.
So, I failed. I have a lot of thoughts about that. While you can read the long post, the summary is – I tried and I failed. And unlike the time when I would get sad and beat myself over it, this time, I am giving myself a break. I acknowledge that I tried. And failed. And I need to move on.
Also this has made me realize thats I need to work harder to find 1000 true fans. In fact, EACH of us must do whatever we can do find 1000 true fans. Krishna was here over the last few days and while talking to him, I realized that instead of you chasing money or learning, you MUST chase a 1000 true fans and once you get to that, life can be better.
As we speak, I have 3 true fans. In case you want to know more about it, here.
Apart from this, while I am on this, I must write about Paul’s Pathless Path. I’ve been reading the book and it’s very very interesting. And refreshing. Especially the stage of life I am at.
Inspired by this I am considering building a coaching practise. This is far cry from how I operate. In life I have not wanted to charge for my patronage – if anything, I give out a lot. Plus I believe that seekers need not be left behind because they cant pay. May be I will make it so expensive that only the ones with resources are able to buy? And ofc, I continue to offer my time for free to the ones that need it.
Like most things, I’ve made public posts. See this post on linkedin and this on x. Lets see where it lands.
2/ Kindness and Politeness
One of my largest values in life is that of kindness and politeness.
To a point that if you talk to me in a rude, condescending, undermining tone, you can expect me to walk out from even the grandest prizes on offer. I have done that in the past – one time I even put my entire company’s very survival at stake.
However, over the last few weeks, I have found myself being rude and unkind and impolite and short-fused and all that. Not just to strangers but also to folks I love.
Case in point, Riya.
I’ve known her for a while and she’s one of the smartest young people I know. Lately, she’s been working to help me build distribution for my work on the internet. She put together a podcast, a newsletter, an entire social media profile and more. A few days ago, on a tiny thing, I lost it and I spoke to her curtly. And I shouldn’t have.
I don’t have an excuse. If I was frustrated, I should’ve kept that to my self. If I were angry, I should’ve chosen better words. If I was not well, I should’ve pushed the call and not bring a bad self to that.
I will do better.
And Riya, if you are reading this, I am sorry.
3/ Health
Despite all the efforts by Dr H (via FOXO) and all the people around me, I cant seem to find a way to eat better. I cant seem to find a way to workout. And I cant seem to get any better.
I can see my energy levels go down. On Friday, I was with some friends and I was unable to even sit up. On Saturday, I had a splitting headache and I didn’t know what to do about it. I have this lingering pain in my back for so many days and I know I need to fix my posture but I havent moved my ass on it. So that.
I know that the answers are simple. I am also sure that things needed to be in the top decile of health for your age group are not tough at all. And yet, I am unable to do shit about it. And since I am a rationalizing human and a smart one at that, I blame the lack of focus on health to lack of money.
Lemme make my case here.
So, if you’ve been a reader of this blog, you’d know my fandom for Kuldeep. I read that he’s on GLP-1 and he lifts like 140 KGs and he’s got a weighing scale that costs 40000.
While his dedication is remarkable and the hard work he’s putting in great, I want to believe that a large part of his ability to be so focused is because of the resources he’s got – you know, afford a doctor to prescribe meds, buy things etc etc.
And yes, I do know that for every Kuldeep, there’s a, say, Fooldeep who doesnt have any money at all and YET does more than Kuldeep and is better than Kuldeep. For fucks sake, I could be this Fooldeep!
I mean, I do have some money. And instead of investing that in my personal brand, I can use that to build better health. I have been wanting to buy an air purifier. I want to join a fancy gym. I want to get a domestic help to cook. How tough is it for me to invest this?
NOT AT ALL!
I will have to cut EACH of my wants (you know, fancy devices, trips, dinners, gifts etc) and I should be ok. If I cut Starbucks from life, the money saved there would be enough to fund like three SG fitness projects.
Wait.
May be that.
What if I abstain from Sbux for a week?
Will try and report.
Ok, moving on.
BRB, ordering a pizza for myself.
4/ Naval on Curating People
Naval dropped a new podcast. It’s titled, Curate People.
Like most things from Naval, this too is worth its weight in gold. I’ve heard is twice and I have made LOT of notes. He’s made the following chapters from the conversation…
On each, I found myself nodding vigorously.
I could relate to my experience. And I realised that I’ve been on the right path. Just that I’ve not been able to curate enough. In fact, the secret of my failure is hidden in plain sight. That I am not a genius and thus I am unable to find others to work with me. I could’ve attracted them with money but my ability to do so is limited as well.
Also, I relate this to what HT told me a few weeks ago (about not being apologetic and leading with confidence). May be this has been my anathema all this while? May be I continue to be a scatterbrain and yet offer confidence and clarity to folks I get to work with.
What say?
Oh and this brings me to the next point. Smartness and poverty.
5/ Smart and yet poor
I saw this quote and I felt a sucker punch to my gut.
“If you are so smart why are you still poor?”
I’ve of course believed all my life that I am among the smarter lot. And this gets reinforced most times I meet people (this also means I need to find better circles to hang around in). And yet I am poor. And I havent been able to spot the reason for poverty.
Lemme try to decode.
One thought is that my relationship with money is not the best one.
I often give it out more than I must. I also tend to not value my time and my energy enough to seek the commensurate monetary value. And I seem to run a leaky bucket – to a point that I piss off a lot of money in life – you know, Starbucks, Eating out etc. For context, last year, I spent about 5 lakhs on eating out, another 3 lakhs on Starbucks. And btw, just 21000 on clothes. Lol.
This year, these numbers are 3.5 lakhs on eating out, 1.7 lakhs on Starbucks and 19K on clothes.
Point?
I can totally save these 5 lakhs if I get better habits.
Second thought is that I need to not leave so much on the table.
I suffer from the want of being likeable. By all. I want to be polite and nice and Mr Please Everybody Else. And because of this, I leave a lot of money on the table. And I dont ask others to do more. And I dont give candid feedback to people who dont.
Thing is, I need to find a way to stretch my money to do more. I want to demand value from the investment I’ve made. I have tried to pivot to being a demand person but I havent been able to change. This likeability is a core part of my identity and each time I have tried to change this, I have failed. So that.
Third thought is using money to please others.
Thankfully, I dont suffer from this affliction. I do things that please me and no one else. So that’s cool.
Fourth thought is Survival. And not growth.
This is a deep one. Some people are designed to take large risks and do more with their lives. I havent taken any large risks to be honest. I’ve only taken small ones. And with small risks come small results. So, I am mildly successful at best. And I am a “never was” (not a “has been”). And I can attribute this to my thing of finding a way to not die. Each time I am in a soup, I come out alive. I am not really on the edge. I am not that atomic explosion that blinds everyone for a ten second window and then the clouds of dust tell the story of that blinding genius. I am rather that candle that flickers and flickers and flickers till it runs out. There is no large announcements. There is no aftermath. Just a candle that was.
Fifth is my chase of freedom and relaxed life of today.
You have only two resources you balance – time and money. And you can do only two tradeoffs – live a tough life today (put in time, save money) and enjoy in the future or use money today to buy convenience (and time) so that your head is free to work on tasks that you need to apply your head to.
I’ve chosen the later.
And in fact, even on the later, I pay a lot of money to avoid mental fuckery. For example, a large part of my spends on Starbucks is to find an AC, comfortable seats, clean rest rooms et al. And not for coffee! I dont even like coffee that much! I am totally opposite of Marshmallow folks.
So may be I dont have enough that allows me to compound?
Sixth is my philosophizing.
Lemme start with a quote by SRK.
My father told me very early on in my life, he said, ‘If you are poor and you are crazy, you are called a lunatic. But if you are rich and you are crazy, you are called eccentric.‘
I cant find the source of this. But I hope you get the message. And I hope you can spot the lunatic in me.
Ok enough about money. I am bored. Need to move on.
6/ Punit Pania and Vishwas Sharma
One of the highlights of the last two weeks Punit’s live show.
I’ve been a fan of the guy and he really made me think so much. Of course he’s funny as well. You must check out his work. He narrated the story of Akbar and Tansen’s guru and left such an indelible impression on me. I wish I had it in me to be an artist and not a content creator.
The other highlight was Vishwas Sharma’s book – Berozgaar Engineer aur Gungi Gun ka Insaaf. Read it here. I’ve not read a good pulp fiction in a while and this one served everything you could ask for!
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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.
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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.
I dont have an update for the last two weeks.
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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.
On this as well, I dont have an update for the last two weeks.
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📊 The tracker from the last week
I am not publishing this. I hardly took note. I will get back next week.
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🏃🏻♂️➡️ Health
Like the tracker, I am not publishing this either. The food log, my daily health log channel continue to be active.
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📖 Interesting Reads / Views
Not too many. Not publishing this. However you are welcome to join this WA group where I post updates often. The last few updates are…
1/ This year’s Year Compass is here.
I’ve been using it for a while to figure how the year went by and what I plan to do in the next. If you are also the productivity kinds and like to reflect, this could be an interesting tool. At least I have benefitted from this. You may want to check this out.
In case this is not for you, I urge you to see it once.
Pro Tip: Download the Digital-A4 version, take two sets of printouts and work with a pen and paper (not iPad / Comp). And on the first, write everything. And on the second refine. And use the second one as your report card for 2025 and then the roadmap for 2026.
Good luck!
2/ On saying yes!
See this tweet.
I have lived a life of “always yes” till I was 40. And my excuse was lack of focus. And undiagnosed ADHD. This served me ok – I learnt a lot. But in societal measures, this didnt serve me well.
I continue to believe that one must say yes to everything. And I know a lot of people who are sharply focussed even at the age of 20.
So, you do what serves you (yes or no) and what has served your people. But this is worth reading and thinking.
3/ Harada Method
See this tweet.
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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.
I’ve been skipping this for a while now.
Lets see when I get back to this.
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🥡 So, one thing that defines the past two weeks?
Sad.
Yeah, thats the word. Cant think of anything else.
Oh and in the previous weeks, the one-word reviews have been… Getting Back, 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.
This week was not
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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, 44
I’ve missed the following weeks: 9, 15, 17, 22, 24, 41, 43, 45
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.