Morning from a slow, sunday morning at a nook in Versova. I am perched at the community table at a Starbucks. And most regulars are missing today. After all this Starbucks is more like a coworking space and most folks on Sunday dont work. Except the real estate folks. They work all the time. And in fact, weekends are more busy for them! I wish I had work that required me to work all the time. I wont know what to do if I dont work.
Lemme give you a case in point. I decided that I will get off social media and yesterday was day 1 of that. And within that one day, I was so bored that I didnt know what to do. I called some friends home, ordered some buckets on instamart and showed them the magic of Epsom Salt, ACV and warm water. There are photos and videos of the incident and they shall remain hidden from public view.
On my phone and screen addiction and constant need of dopamine, I saw a reel (lol, see the paradox?) where Pavel talks about how social media websites break your brain. I knew it of course but listening from a man that I respect so much, I told myself to remind that I need to stay off it. I now use my phone in assistive access mode and that’s helping. I will probably get a feature (aka dumb) phone, in case I am unable to break my phone addiction.
As of today, my average screentime on the mobile is 6 hours and 50 minutes (and that too is 18% down from last week). I want to work to get my mobile screen time to 30 minutes. Tall order but we shall try. Oh, WA is like 60% of my mobile usage. I want to get to a place where I use it only from laptops. Oh, the unintended side effect is that I’ve picked up fiction. I am reading now. I finished two Grishams. I am now reading Detective by Arthur Hailey. Finding joy in reading these fast-paced, racy reads.
So that.
Wow, an entire blog as the intro. Not bad!
Ok, let’s get to the weekly notes. And since this is the end of the month, I will talk about the monthly review as well.
💭 Highlights, reflections, updates, notes and thoughts from Week 5, 2026 (and month of Jan 2026)
Note: These are not in any order. And at some places I will talk about the entire month of Jan 2026 as well.
1/ Ramana Maharishi
I’ve mentioned about Ramana Maharishi in the previous note. I have a lot more to say but words fail me. Lemme see if I want to come back to this while editing.
Oh here’s another pic from the trip.
No, no new words come to me.
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2/ AI, Clawdbot (aka Moltbot aka OpenClaw) and Future
The thing that blew up the last week? Well, I tried and I can validate the excitement. I am so so so excited that I cant sit still. The installation etc is still technical for me and thus I’ve not been able to play with it. But the use cases are blowing my mind. I can safely say that the future looks scary and exciting and the only thing left for us humans to do would be to chill. The world of Star Trek, Star Wars, Wall-E will come true. Sooner than later.
And as the second order effect, everything decentralized will blow up – identity, finance, borderless movement etc. And like most things, it will creep up on us slowly at first and then all of a sudden.
And if you are still on the edge about AI, I think you must tip over. Or else you will ngmi.
Oh, and if you can, find a way to earn in USD. Most of these AI tools operate for US as a market and thus are priced at a premium for us in India. I spend about 30K a month on AI tools (I can because I have an income source) but an average Indian may not!
The other thing, I want to get to something where we trade in atoms. All bit things will move to AI. So, again, sooner the better.
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3/ Ankles and Knees
After a pickle session this week gone by, I’ve this lingering pain in my knees. And my ankle has been hurting for a while. Shoulder seems to be ok. I am not taking these seriously at this time. But I hope these are not long-term injuries. I dont want to pick these at this age.
In fact, I picked pickle to be able to add some movement in my routine. So that.
Leaving this here. I will not stop. I have to be fit and I will ensure things happen.
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4/ Audacity and Ambition
Stripe updated their home page to showcase the percentage of global GDP running on their chains.
WOW!
Talk about audacity and ambition. Love it!
I wish I could instill this in myself. And then in my people. And then in the world around me. One of the feedbacks I got from a close enough friend is that lately am not talking about large impact (billions, changing the world etc). I want to use this part to reiterate that I remain committed. Just that at this time, am at a place where I need to get my house in order (thank you, Dr Peterson).
Oh and if you stick with me, I will…
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5/ Exploration and Routine
The month of Jan saw me take at least 5 flights (Bom to Del, Del to Ahd, Ahd to Bom, Bom to Maa and back) and 5 cities.
This was after a while that I took so many flights in a month. And I loved it! I could meet friends, collaborators, see the world and experience the feeling of momentum. I could sense adventure.
However, because of all this travel, I was unable to stay on track (writing, food, sleep, work, money, writing etc). And I messed up my routine.
I know both these things (exploration and routine) are important. I know that I need to have a balance (or may be harmony) between the two. I know that I am not the most disciplined about these things. I know I need to be. And I know that at my age, if not now, then when.
I need to find a system that allows me this. May be each place I am at, I need 2 hours in a day to sort my head and things. And thus could include writing, workouts, people etc etc. I dont have any travel planned (there is a potential trip to Delhi and I will stress test this two-hour thing). I shall report, in case I have to travel.
So that.
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6/ Lessons and Dreams (from The Way Back)
I saw The Way Back on my flights between Mumbai and Chennai. Loved it. Here’s a trailer…
I have a lot of thoughts. Lemme try to articulate.
A. There’s way too many lessons that you can draw from sports.
From the film, I learnt how to inspire kids, how to bind them in a team, how to discover yourself while you are engaged in sports. Thing is, I must find a way to marry sports and my work. Though I am not good at most sports but I love the effort people put in.
B. I want to make films.
And sports film at that. Or the film of underdogs. They may or may not win but story of underdogs. Some of my favorites are from these genre.
I will have to reinvent myself. Do I want to? Do I have the patience? Do I have the talent? Do films fit into the thing that I want to focus on? Need to think.
Oh, maybe marry sports AND films.
C. I must build my team like a sports team.
Will add this to the culture book am working on.
Oh, while you are at it see this…
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7/ Detox and Dhan
If you see me active on Instagram, LinkedIn, or Twitter, PLEASE flag it to me. For each incident, I will fine myself 1000 bucks. And I will give this to whoever flags this first.
There are some “rules” though…
- I will continue to use these platforms for work or to support others. A young person from Delhi wants me to post something on Linkedin on the 2nd Feb. I will do that. Then, C4E is doing at session with Palash on the 8th. I will talk about that.
- For work, I may need to research a few things on these networks. I will do that.
- Most of my new information (about whats new and whats happening) comes from these social networks. Lately my feed had a lot of chatter on AI bots, programmatic SEO, AI Influencers, and other such things. This is also where work is moving for me. And this means that I will from time to time get back to know more.
- I may need help in reaching out to more people. I will continue to do that.
So this.
I plan to stay away till end of Feb. Or till I’ve reduced my average screen time to 30 minutes, whichever is first.
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8/ SG’s Patrons and 1000 True Fans (or 10 lakhs from 10 people)
One of the most power ideas of all times is 1000 True Fans (by KK). He says,
To be a successful creator you don’t need millions. You don’t need millions of dollars or millions of customers, millions of clients or millions of fans. To make a living as a craftsperson, photographer, musician, designer, author, animator, app maker, entrepreneur, or inventor you need only thousands of true fans.
I would love to have 1000 true fans. I have 3.
Thank you, Shruti, Prak and C.
I even wanted to IPO my life (see this) and I got 0 takers.
At some point in time in life, I will try to bring this back. The intention remains that I want to be more accountable to the world around me. And once I have a patron, I will have to be accountable!
But then I’ve not been able to find people who’d be my patrons or participate in my Life IPO and thus this remains a failed experiment / idea.
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9/ Misc things from this week / month
Here are some thing that I want to capture but not necessarily talk about in great length.
- This video of Steve at a Design Conference.
- Discovered Lana Del Ray (wiki). Love it. See this track and now this.
- I am unable to get that lingering feeling off my chest that I want to make films. I think I will play with AI and make some sort of a short film. Let’s see.
- C4E Culture Book. I have started to think about updating the C4E Culture Book. In case you have thoughts, please lemme know. The current culture book is here.
- Had to take a 7-digits INR working capital loan. Hate it. But then, grateful as well that I have access to credit.
- This film has my heart. Love it. For the script. And for the music. Ofc, made by AI.
- Cleaned my Apple Notes and it has given me a LONG list of links that I have saved and yet to action.
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🈺 Photos from Week 5
Here are some. Not too many tbh but there are some gems nonetheless.
Over the next weeks, I will retire this. Takes a lot of time and gives no ROI. Plus I now include pics in the commentary section. Lets see.
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🈺 Trackers from Week 5
At some point in time, I will have detailed trackers to show. But for the time being the small numbers that I have tracked are…
- Average Steps -5186. I want this to be 15K over the next 20 days or so.
- Pickle Sessions – 1. Still unable to get to 3. May not play in the coming week (cos knees etc)
- YT Live Sessions – 4. Missed today morning. Yesterday’s is still not working. It has to be me because everyone else seems to be working on it. I will probably record and upload.
What is missing?
Well a lot. Sleep, workout, yoga sessions, food, emotions, habits, money and more. To be honest, I have not filled in my in2026 tracker this past month. I will get on to it from today.
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🈺 Action on LARGE objectives for the year
In this section, I will capture my progress on large objectives for the year. In 2026, I plan to do the following three things…
- Book2
- Human Flag Pole
- Save a million dollars
No action in the whole of Jan.
Again, not beating myself over it. And not letting this become a blind spot either. Just acknowledging.
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☑️ So, what did I get done last week? And what will I do next week?
This is a one-line report on progress I made on various things that are important to me. I will only talk about things that I got done. Shipped. Not WIP.
This year, I want to track the following…
- Health. I will work on sleep, food and movement.
- C4E / Work. I want to shortlist some idea that I want to work on.
- Brand SG / Distribution
- People (Family, Friends, Strangers, etc)
- Book2. I want to start with this.
- Shauk (Music, Films, Poker etc)
Like the large objective bit, there is no update on this as well. I will get to this at some point.
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🏃🏻♂️➡️ Health
I added Health as a key section last year. I read somewhere that you need 4 things to live long – sleep, exercise, diet and community. I will track all four. And then some more variables that I feel are important to me. Let’s see what comes out.
Like the last one, no action. Give me a few weeks.
Oh, I may want to start my daily health updates on a WA Channel. I may want to start that again. Lets see.
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🧠 Reminders from last week
This section captures things that I want to not forget. I add those to SG’s Office. I will copy paste these week on week and track updates.
A few things.
- Start a podcast with C and AK
- Update C4E’s Culture Book
These few come to mind as I speak. I have a suspicion that this will grow and will become unmanageable in a few weeks. I will find a solution when I get to it.
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🥡 So, one thing that defines the past week?
Easy.
I didn’t do anything in a hurry. My sense of urgency took a back seat. Took it easy, met friends, ate, chilled.
The other words for this year have been: Journey, Downtime.
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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. Previous editions:
PPS: Please do point typos.
PPPS: In case you see me being inconsistent in anything – work, writing, reviews etc, PLEASE do point out.
PPPPS: This is the first “update” of the year and thus a lot of this is incomplete. Allow me one or two weeks to get settled. And, on this one, do lemme know what you think of the new format.