9 AM, Sunday the 14th,
Starbucks Versova,
I’ve had probably the toughest week in the last few weeks. If I look at my charts, I am sleeping well, emotions are in check but I had a terrible week. I know it. Quantified self may not be as quantifiable as we imagine it to be ;P
There is clearly a lot that goes under the hood that we are not aware of. And I think that ability to scratch beyond the surface is what separates winners from losers. At some point, I need to grow that ability. I dont think I have at this time.
Anyhow. A lot to be said and a lot to be thought about.
Let’s get going.
Oh, the song of the week is Jagjit Singh’s version of Chaudhavi Ki Raat. Here.
Chalo, let’s go…
💭 Highlights, reflections and notes from the past week
PS: As always, these are not in any order.
A/ Jazz
I have started to like Jazz. I never imagined that I would love things like Jazz music. But I like it now. May be its the impact that Akshay has had on me. Or may be its a natural instinct to start like mellow things as you age. Or may be its the appreciation of fine things in life (lol, am calling Jazz fine). Or maybe this is an hangover from Whiplash?
Whatever it is. It’s interesting and I like.
Here’s one of the playlists that I listen to often. And I am listening to this as we write this. You must watch this. People having fun!
And yes, my choice of music platform is Youtube. Not Spotify lol.
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B/ SG’s Raison d’être
Am continuing this from last week’s point E.
Last week, I wrote this…
From all the 84 people that read that post, 2 decided to support me. Both are at a 1000 a month. Thank you, Prakruti and Shruti. I now need 998 more folks.
Also, 2 out of 84 is not that bad to be honest. Now that I have 2 patrons, I need to think what can I offer them. And how can I expand this.
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C/ Domesticated SG
I’ve found a spot in my house where the sun peeks at me in the morning. So, most days, I putter around there, peeling eggs, almonds, cleaning the kitchen and all that. I dont do anything of use to be honest. It’s an hour of wasting time but I am told by Dr H that I need to waste this hour. So that.
Oh, I am also getting a lot more domesticated. I am buying things like lunch boxes, containers and what not. I already have an air fryer, a blender, an egg boiler, a humidifier. Apart from tons of glass jars, spouters, containers and all that. I’ve ran away from a functioning kitchen all my life and now I have one. Sigh!
What age does to people ;P
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D/ Walk streak
Since early august I was on a 8K per day streak. I broke it yesterday 🙁
This was made possible by Abhinav and Unlock!
I am committed to continue this. So while I missed this yesterday, I will try to get back to it today on. As I write this, I am on 1000 odd steps for the day. The ambition is to do 15K today. Let’s see how it goes.
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E/ Weekly Updates + Roam
I found a way to import my blogs in Roam.
And now I have a tracking system! Yay!
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F/ Distribution / Personal Brand
Not one day goes by when I am not reminded by how stupid it is that I did nothing on my personal brand over all these years that I have been active on social media and internet.
I really have to pull up my socks, pants, life and EVERYTHING that I can on this. I need to start putting my face and thoughts and ideas and everything else out!
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G/ Upskilling Cohort for Mid-Career Folks
A friend (Akshay) and I had this idea – what if there was some cohort for mid-career professionals who are wading in the ambiguity with their careers? And the cohort could offer a structured program where you could attend sessions by others (gyaan), upskilling workshops (say AI), and opportunity to find gigs that are not soul-sucking full time jobs.
We floated this idea in couple of groups – one was DD’s group and the other was MDI’s community. We got some really interesting feedback. What do you think? Would you be interested? Why? Why not? What would you want to see in that cohort? What money would you pay? No, we dont want to charge people who want to upskill but we want to filter non-serious participants. And any other feedback?
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H/ Bending Spoon’s acquisition of Vimeo
I read this week that Bending Spoons is acquiring Vimeo. If you are uninitiated about BS, they are a tech venture studio of sorts that also owns and runs wetransfer, issu and evernote! Oh, I also love their Values page!
Also, Bending Spoons is the kind of business that I want to create. In fact, the labs piece by AK is my ticket to that. I just need to find a way to show the kids the light and move beyond the quirks.
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I/ Bharat Ek Khoj
Someone needs to reimagine and retell Bharat Ek Khoj. May be using AI. I wish I had the money to commission it! In fact, on that thread, reminds me, I have so so so many ideas that I want to work on and I dont know how to do all of those 🙁
Ok wait. I will not cry.
Moving on.
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Ok, this is it. Moving on.
📷 Some Photos from the week gone by
Here are some photos that I took and saved in the last week. Here.
And here’s a photo that I want to share with the world…
Do share some of your photos with me 🙂
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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.
Book 2 – There was no movement.
A, I was busy with work.
B, Bri was busy as well.
So, I have nothing to report. Will get back next week.
Yearly Plan – I dropped it long ago.
Now its time to think about the plan for the next year. Lol.
Health – No large actions.
PS: I track my health updates here, in case.
☑️ 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.
- Health
- Meru
- C4E
- Brand SG
- People (Family, Friends, Strangers, etc)
- Book2
- Shauk (Music, Films, Poker etc)
Health. I was not on track at all.
With FOXO I had built a good habit of eating in moderation and all that but one slip from my side, I am back to the starting line. I need to get back on track. A 0.
Meru. Lot of action but no updates that I can put on this blog.
So, a 0.
C4E. No action from my side.
But we did survive one more month without ruin. So that’s a win for sure. With the way things are going, I will have to take up a loan to pay September salaries. So it has a good thing and a bad thing. May be a 0.
Brand SG. No action.
Riya and AK and Vishal and others have been at it but we havent shipped anything. So a -1. Also with a team and talent like that, it’s a shame that I am unable to get them to do more for me.
People. No action on this.
I’d say 0.
Book 2. Nothing.
So, -1
Shauk. No action.
No time.
And I am not losing sleep over it. So a 0.
So the overall score is -2.
📊 The tracker from the last week
Here is the tracker for the week gone by.
What trends do you see?
I see…
- Better sleep despite my emotions being all over the place. Funnily the days that I was most screwed, I seem to be sleeping better. Lol.
- Food needs fixing for sure.
What do you see?
🏃🏻♂️➡️ Health
I added Health as a key section some days ago. I am still discovering what to cover here. Let’s see how it goes.
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. Also, I log a few things at these links – food log, my daily health log channel.
1/ Sleep
Like I said, this seems to be ok.
Despite my emotions.
I think I am blessed!
2/ Exercise
No action 🙁
3/ Diet
I track each thing I eat on my food log.
Was terrible.
Here’s a screenshot of macros from last week. I am told I need to add 20% to what I track. Please do the math ;P
So, am ok on protein (I think) but I need to fix my carbs and calories.
Oh, in case you need my prompt for this, lemme know. It’s able to find macros but I am yet to automate it to a point that it can add to the tracker by itself. On that, I am sure it’s possible but I havent had the time to play with AI tools yet.
4/ Community
No large movement on this.
5/ REDACTED
This was being tracked till the last week. I have stopped this from this week onward.
6/ Movement
No action.
Apart from steps over the last week. See this.
7/ Meditation
No action.
Overall, despite everything, I am unable to anything about moving the metrics that matter. I think I need intervention! Who? Come on, universe. #sgtodo
Also, question for the world at large – how to people manage work, life, family and fitness? #tothink
📖 Interesting Reads / Views from the last week
I read a lot last week. I mean it feels like that.
Here are some pieces that I want to share…
1/ Longevity as the new status game by JMJ. Here. Satirical read about how longevity has become the new pursuit of the rich and tech-ous.
2/ The note from Wire about the Nepal situation. Here.
3/ Here’s a note on Pmarca’s operating principles and the change. Here. I think I am somewhere in the same flux. Over the last year or so, I’ve become a lot more manager than maker. And thus I need to change as well.
4/ My friend Pavithra on self worth, told thru the lens of GLP-1 drugs and Serena’s decision to promote these drugs. Here.
5/ This tweet on how to use modern digital marketing.
6/ Aarya write about what makes Apple, Apple. Very well written piece from a young person. Must read. Here.
7/ This story on Parsi’s Towers of Silence. And Vultures. Really. MUST read. For sheer joy of reading. And amazement.
8/ This review of Manu Joseph’s book, Why The Poor Don’t Kill Us. No, I have not read the book. But I am aware of the sharp tongue of the man. And I love how he’s able to write so well. This review is Josephesque itself. Do read.
9/ Ev (the twitter guy) talking about “Why Greatness Can’t be Planned”. I havent read the book but I love the narrative. Here. I can totally see myself buying the book. Meanwhile, here’s a summary of the book.
10/ Saw this on HV Pandya’s X. About Steve Job’s Miracle Year at Apple. Here. Oh, and here’s to the crazy ones…
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Thats it for this week. Phew!
🧠 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.
🥡 So, one thing that defines the past week?
Tough.
Oh and in the previous weeks, the one-word reviews have been… 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.
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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, 09 (missed), 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 (missed), 16, 17 (missed), 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 (missed), 23, 24 (missed), 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36
PPS: Please do point typos.
Grammarly is not working well and I don’t have energy to cut paste edit this in some other spell check thing.
PPPS: In case you see me being inconsistent in anything – work, writing, reviews etc, PLEASE do point out.