Storytelling Archives

Wk 37-26 – Weekly Note

Notes from Week 37.

Sep 12, 2026
Dubai

I am here since a couple of days. And this trip so far has been nothing to write home about. While I am writing this, I am reading what Claude wrote for me and it’s incredible how much it knows about this trip. For example, it wrote this line… “The bags are in the room. The Niyo cards are still not topped up and the travel adapter i was supposed to buy in Mumbai is sitting in a shop in Mumbai.” And somehow it knows that I was to add money in my Niyo cards and buy a travel adapter.

Anyhow. I am here.
And let’s see how this trip goes.

Highlights, reflections, updates, notes and thoughts from the week gone by.

1/ The September Focus

The plan for September remains empty.

Think of this as the month where I took a break and did nothing. And thought about what to do next. Let’s park it at that. Think of it as break season for me. And of course, like most things, even when I take a break, I want to work on things. And I am indeed working on things. These things may not be structured per se in terms of client outcomes but in terms of exploration and all. Like right now, Claude is churning out websites for a few projects that I am excited about.

2/ Dubai

Claude tells me that this is my fourth trip here. I have no way to check. But I was to say that I’ve been here more times than this. And I dont have energy or inclination to check. So lets live with that.

So, while I am moving around and meeting people, I am in the Marina area and I quite like it here. Very modern. Very structured. Has easy access to a water body (a canal). Wish it was close to a beach as well (there’s JBR but thats very commercial for my taste; some part of this post is from a Starbucks outlet here). I can totally see myself living here. Just that like Akshay told me, this is an expensive place to be poor in. I mean I am not poor per se but I am not rich either. Definitely not from Dubai standards. And it’s way too hot for my taste. It’s September and 8:30 in the night and the air is still stuffy. Maybe I spend only the winter months here?

Anyhow. It’s just been a couple of days and a lot of thoughts. I will write them sometime. Maybe on this post itself when I get to that.

3/ Founder Storytelling Coaching

Spotted a tweet where a founder seems to be seeking services of a storytelling coach. I thought it would be an interesting problem to solve. The founder wants to get better at telling his own story, and he is right that it is the thing standing between him and the rooms he wants to walk into.

So I reached out to him and we got talking. And things are now at a place where we will do a pilot. And got me thinking. That it’s a large enough problem to work on and it fits into my thinking about being useful and being there when you are stuck (and not being there when you are happy or sad; must write this piece somewhere). Need to think more on this.

Oh, I wrote this piece while thinking about that project.

How to build a Founder Personal Brand

In case you know folks who need help with their founder stories and personal brand for founders, please do tell me.

4/ Focus. Focus. Focus.

In one of the chats in Dubai (with Pritam), I realised yet again that I need to be able to focus on one thing; in case I want large outcomes. If I continue to be a mild success, I can do that well. But in case I need to a wild one, I have to be able to focus on one thing.

I’ve tried hard to be focussed on one thing but I’ve failed miserably at it. I’ve tried hard to stop doing things but that makes unhappy. I’ve wanted to cut off things that dont give me immediate value and don’t allow me to play to win. Even those dont take me where I want to be.

So, I need to find a way to get focussed in life.

I know I am not a big fan of specialization but I think I am coming around to the fact that I need to pick a lane and stick to it. And then while I am on it, I need to figure what could be the way to find my hobbies.

5/ Strong opinions. Loosely held.

Over the last few days, I’ve been thinking a lot about things. And a lot of my strong opinions are changing.

For example, the entire coaching thing – where you charge money to give gyaan? Well, I no longer think it’s a bad thing necessarily. There are more examples, but I am not ready to talk about those at this time. May be I will process some more and come around to that.

Also see the bit on founder storytelling coaching thing.

6/ Work in spurts

I’ve realised that I can only work in spurts. Once I move on, I move on.

Lemme give an example. The other day, I whipped together an app to help folks write their manifestations. And then I moved on. And then while writing this weekly review, I stumbled onto that app again. And ISTG I had forgotten about it. Similarly, I made my own clone of Tally to manage my expenses. I burnt like a billion token on it in a week and then I forgot about it. Till it resurfaced a few days later.

So I need to find a way to track things so that I don’t lose, well, track of those. Any clues? I do have a command centre that I made with Claude, a task manager, a CRM but still.

Oh, another corollary of the same problem. When I work on a project, I have a limited context window for myself. This could mean features, people, tasks, things or whatever. And once I switch the session or move onto something else, I am unable to find a way to recall all things. I’ve started to maintain a tiny readme on each project now but it’s still not a replacement for my brain. Any folks here have been able to grow their brain?

May be I need to re-read this piece by Ryan?

7/ I think when I talk.

No large thoughts on this one. Simple. That my best ideas and interactions and brainwaves come in when I am talking. And thus I need more listeners. And confidants that I can talk to. And more people who will give honest feedback and not mince words.

8/ Other Notes and Links

Starting this week, I want to put some effort on this piece. I will try to write a line or two about things that caught my eye in the week gone by. Think of it as a news round up. And I will also share this with folks on my TIL group.

a. iPhone Duo
Apple released their new iPhone, and I love it. I am not the kind to have foldable phones, but this one, I want! In case you want to gift one to me, lemme know.

b. Bending Spoons acquired Miro
I used to love Miro when I would start with a mindmap on each thing. But with time, I have stopped using. I wonder why. It’s a powerful tool, I enjoy working on the maps and Miro is one of the best tools available for that.

Bending Spoons is one of those companies that acquires good businesses, builds ruthless efficiency in those and makes money. I’ve always imagined having a company like that – multiple businesses, optimised, well paying, well earning and good life.

Of course I’ve heard in private conversations about them being “sharks” and exploitative but I think there’s some lessons there for sure.

c. The AI threat
After Jensen said AGI has arrived, this thread by an Anthropic engineer (Jacob) made the world spin. As on last reading, it has 170 MILLION impressions!

While we are on this, also see Anthropic’s Econ Scenarios. Best seen on a computer. Some stark takeaways. Especially if you are reading this. Cos, odds are, you would be a knowledge worker. At least I identify myself as a knowledge worker.

While this was happening, over the weekend, both Sam and Dario seemed to agreed that they need to control the advancement. Wow. I miss that I am not at the frontier of this conversation!

d. Dubai
I saw many Indian companies here and I was super proud! A small list is Maharaja Bhog (lol), Bisleri, Porter, Urban Company. Well done fellas!

Staying on this, since I am not surrounded by regular folks, the chats of AI are missing here. In fact, am yet to find my community and network here and thus I dont know what the city talks about!

e. This tweet from Aakrit about AI is fab!
Love the simple distillation of what I think is true but could never articulate.

f. Pocket FMs’ $500M
The internet melted over Pocket FM’s news about the $500M ARR. And they seem to have pivoted 11 times. Wow. And that they use AI to create content. And they are in the entertainment business. If they can, why can’t others?

See this tweet about how they reached here.

g. Writing things down – link
From Ben of Stratechery. Took a lot of notes. Especially about his comments on why he doesn’t like watermarking text on AI. I never imagined that could even be a thing!

h. PG’s note on powerful startups – link
TBH, I am yet to read this. But he’s written an essay and you better read it.

PS: Do let me know what you think of this roundup.

📸 Photos from the week gone by

Quite a few photos.

As always, available on request.

📈 The trackers of life

No action on trackers.
I know that I am unable to track things when I am on the road. So, let’s wait for me to come back. Or settle down.

Action on LARGE objectives for the year

In 2026, I plan to do three things.

Book2
Human Flag Pole
Save a million dollars

Book2 / Caravan Serai.
No movement again.

Human Flag Pole.
This is the best thing of the week. For three days, I did 15 push-ups on the trot. This is great improvement for me. I could only do like 2 and now I am upto 15. Even if I am dying after the 10th one. Let’s see when I reach 100. And then I will aim for pullups. And then we shall see where get.

Also, on a this, saw this from Dan Go and was left shocked.

Save a million dollars.
No action. I think I need a money coach ;P

📌 So, what did I get done last few weeks? And what will I do next week?

A one-line report on what shipped. Not WIP.

Health. Sleep, food, movement. Nothing to report. I am walking a tad more and I am controlling what I eat. Rest, nothing to report.
C4E / Work. Same as last week. No large actions. Still shuttling between 66MGRoad and Atlas Fractional.
Brand SG / Distribution. Nothing large.
People. Talked to many people in Dubai. Yet to see how would it impact my life and brand.
Book2. Lol.
Shauk. Nothing tbh. Was busy with travel and all that.

📅 One thing that defines the past week?

Uncertainty.

And I am surprising ok with that. I know a lot of people are unable to live with it. But I think I am ok with it.

The other words for this year have been: Busy, Skip, Routine, Routine, Getting Back, Freedom, People, Motion, Show, Flow, Excitement, Embarrassment, Blur, Whiling, Movement, Activity, Regular, Easy, Journey, Downtime, Same, Drift, Routine, Busy.

So that.

Over and out.
Until next Friday.
—SG

PS: This series of posts is inspired by Thej and his weekly notes. Previous editions from 2026 are: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 (missed these three), 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 (missed), 26, 27, 28, 29 (missed these three), 30, 31, 32, 33 (missed), 34, 35 (missed), 36

PPS: Please do point typos.

PPPS: In case you see me being inconsistent in anything – work, writing, reviews etc, PLEASE do point out.

Day 5. 151220

Day 5 of Morning Pages. In this one I talk about it’s started to become a habit and how I was looking forward to write when I woke up.

I did something different today. When I woke up, I did not directly start thinking about the morning pages. But got to work and finished some tasks that have been pending since yesterday. I normally do not leave tasks open but since I do not have internet here, it becomes tough to get things done. And no, things I do can not be done without the internet. The only way I have is to use a connection tethered to the phone. And that too is a pain!

As a result, I am missing out on deadlines, productivity is getting hit like mad and I am in general listless. Yeah yeah. I am that attached to the Internet.

Plus since I don’t have the phone in general either (again, the signals are shit), I cant do a lot of other work that can be done on just the phone

So that.

Sounds like a rant but more of a frustrated comment than anything else.

Coming to the morning pages. Today is day 5 and a funny thing happened. While I was on the bed, drifting towards sleep, I realized that I was thinking about what would I write in the pages when I wake up. I was actually excited about this! Wow! Maybe it’s the excitement of a new project, may be its my way of getting to talk about personal things to someone (something), or may be it’s just that love of seeing my fingers dance on the keyboard! Whatever it is, as a writer, it is good for me! Yay!

The thing that I am worried about though is that these morning pages do not become a blog. In fact, as I write this, I no longer know what is my blog (that I have been religiously writing since 2004) or what is a journal (that I have written intermittently over the years), what is my website (again that has more text than anything else) or what is my public portfolio. Lately, as I have started to interact with more people that are not from a similar background as me, I have come to realize that it’s super tough for me to describe who I am and what I do. Harshit does it really well when he says he’s the happiest man ever. His thoughts have become his identity. Shikha does it well when she says that she’s a filmmaker and runs a film community. Her ambition and her work has become her identity. Sonali may say that she’s an aspiring artist. Her aspiration is her identity. Nupura says she’s an ex-event manager hoping to get active in the cultural space. Her work is her identity. Rajat says he’s a storyteller and wants to be happy. His thoughts are his identity. Heck, Jason Statham says that he’s a transporter. Wow to that!

Coming to self, in my case, I don’t know what is my identity.

Thing is, I don’t have a singular thing that I do. I don’t have a singular ambition. I am motivated to make the world a better place. And make an impact. And live in abundance. I don’t know if any of these could be my identity. Or a conversation starter. Or something that allows others to place me. Slot me.

I am unable to find one thread that binds them all.

Am I a storyteller? Isn’t storytelling an oft-abused word now? They say there are as many stories as there are people. Am I a people-connector? Do I represent an opportunity? Am I someone that gets things done? Do I inspire? Do I make others entrepreneurs? Some people have called me a life coach (I know life coaching works and I’ve friends that are life coaches but I hate this term). Do I teach others how to live better? Wait. Do I live well myself? Lol!

Funny that this note has become a dialogue with self. Funnier that am ok to put these rants on paper and share with the world. Well, not share per se. But talk about these on the public domain.

Coming back. Morning pages. I like them so far. My identity. I don’t have an answer but I would love to find it. My writing. I know I need to get more active with the output. Book 2 is stuck for I don’t know why or how. I can’t write short stories for life. I have been thinking about writing stories of interesting people that are settled in Goa. Thanks to Nupura and Nikhil, have bumped into numerous interesting people already/. Maybe need to act on it.

Let’s see when. Right now, there’s a lot that needs to be done on the book am editing and the consulting gig that I am on. If I only had a stable internet connection, I would have pulled off things easy. Ok, back to ranting. I promised Vivek and Vanita that I would not. I think I am not. I am merely expressing shit in my head ;P

Ya right!

So yeah that’s that.

Over and out for the day. See you guys tomorrow.

Day 4. 141220.

In this one, I talk about my #lifeGoal of telling stories of fascinating, non-celebrity people that we often miss.

Yo Morning Pages.
Day 4.
7 AM.
I woke up about 30 minutes ago and unlike when I was younger and I could wake up and jump into action the next second, it has taken me almost 30 minutes to reach a point that I can type this. Old age sucks!

Anyhow. So the thing that I am thinking of since last evening is that there are so so many interesting people in the world and I need a way to be a magnet to those. I mean some people enjoy getting drunk and getting lost in the reverie induced by alcohol. Some like the idea of eating the most exquisite things that they can put on the plate. Some like to merely showoff the company they keep. In my case, what excites me is the opportunity to talk to people that are, well, interesting.

Interesting is an interesting word. I don’t have a definition for this. Just that these people are the ones that are different from the inside. When you look at them, they could be the most regular ones that you may ever know – you know, look and feel like regular people with boring clothes, drab jobs, sleepy routines. But they have stories that remain untold most times. Not for the want of storytellers or the occasions to tell those stories. But because these stories don’t travel far and wide!

And why don’t these travel?

Well, first, these stories are often told in closed circles. I mean why would a banker who retired at 40 tell the world about how he fleeced his bank and amassed a fortune that has allowed him to make a home at Goa.

Second these stories are told to people that are not natural storytellers. No, I am not saying I am one.

Just that stories need to be passed on.
And they are!
But mostly orally. Sometimes, in written shape. Rarely on film.

They have to be passed on, lest they get killed. I suspect that more stories get killed for the lack of a medium than anything else.

Side note. I think my work at Podium and as a writer could be to tell these stories. These stories, if told well, could inspire the listeners, readers, and others. These stories could make the Kumbhkaran wake from his slumber. You know people like Humans of NY and all that? They tell stories of non-fancy people and ensure those are archived for posterity and all that. And in doing so, they allow the world at large to hear these stories and get inspired and probably ink their own!

That!

I’ve often lamented that I would like to inspire the world. I want to make them see their potential. I want to make those people look forward to their lives, even though life may be meaningless in the grand scheme of things. But I want to. I want to stand for opportunity. And I thought that that the easiest way to do so could be the role model that they could look up to. You know, if Saurabh can, why can’t I kinds?

The trouble of course is that I need to do well for myself. And I know I have tried and failed at it. Multiple times. So not sure.

But, what I can do is, gather these stories. Tell them. And try to send them to more places in the world than the micro-plastic particles have reached. You know, to the deepest trenches in the ocean and the highest point in our atmosphere!

Ok, coming back to why these stories don’t travel, the third reason is all the social media and content revolution clutter. Everyone has discovered the power of a search engine and storyfying what they do. They even say that any company that needs to survive in the times to come has to tell their story more than they hawk their wares. And this means that there are more stories than people. And often these stories are made-up, uninteresting, car-salesmen-ly and more. And in all this noise, the signal gets lost! So that!

Next, I think telling a good story takes a heck of a lot of time. And that means you can only tell so many. I mean if I could meet one interesting person daily, even then I won’t be able to tell a million stories. Ok, not a million. Let’s say 100. Let’s say I want to tell a hundred fascinating stories of people that are seemingly commonplace, how much time would I take? I am guessing I would need atleast 3 years to do so if I do it full-time and with all earnestness.

Do I have the luxury of 3 years? I don’t know.
Do I want to tell these 100 stories? HELL YEAH! Why 100? I’d love to tell a thou, a lakh, a million. Tell so many of these that when people are seeking inspiration, they just hop onto these stories and they go back inspired! No, I am not talking inspiration in the TED Talks inspiration manner where they share ideas. I am talking about humanizing people and talk about our frailty, our perseverance, our grit, our most irrational actions, most “immoral” thoughts, things that chase convention. Things that need to be told and heard and all that.

How do I even get started?
May be by taking up the challenge to tell stories of the 100 most interesting people I know?

What do you think?

– SG
14 Dec 2020
Baga, Goa

PS, when I did a grammar check on Grammarly, it told me that I was sounding worried! Lol!