Aug 31,
Starbucks, Versova
Finishing it on Sep 1, 2025.
Today I woke up late. I mean I was up at 6:30. And then I slept again (cos I was up till 2). And then I woke up at 8:30. And this means I am delayed on most things, including this note. But now that am here, I will make the most of it. And since I didn’t write the last week’s well, I need to do this one better.
Lol, talk of self-imposed pressure.
Anyhow.
We shall prevail.
And we shall do more.
Oh and before we go ahead, here’s the track of the week. This.
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Ok, let’s go!
💭 Highlights, reflections and notes from the past week
PS: As always, these are not in any order.
1/ The raison d’être of this weekly review
As I was writing this, I realised that it takes me about 3 hours to write this. Give or take. And then whatever time it takes me to maintain notes that I take thru the week (in hopes that I will publish this on this post). For the curious, most of those notes are on my Apple Notes, Self WA Group, TIL and Roam.
However, if I am to look at the value that I get from this, I think its zilch.
Apart from making me feel good about continuing with a habit for more than 8 months.
TBH, in the past, I used to have lot more time. And that meant I could work on this at my speed, at my pace, at my schedule. I remember I would start writing this on a Thursday and then I would get back to it often. Now, all I get is a half a day per week and in that time I need to crunch errands, socialise, do soul things and all that.
And thus I am left questioning this.
But then, I enjoy the process of writing. This is the only thing that I write these days apart from work. Plus, writing this allows me to reflect and see notes and revisit things from the week gone by. Its this revisiting that has got me numerous opportunities that I would otherwise not get.
So, if I were to do a pros vs cons analysis, I dont know what to make out of this.
What do you think? Should I continue with this? Or should I stop?
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2/ Punit Pania
I’ve been aware of his work for a while but over the last week, I saw a lot of his videos. And with each, my are for him has only grown. What an incredible guy!
I wish I had the balls to be like him – live life on own terms and rely on 1000 true fans to support his life. He’s clearly using his ability to write and speak to rage against the system. In a manner that is harmless and yet impactful. At least I am a convert. I wish I had the talent to do that.
But then, even if I had the talent, I would probably not rage against anything. I would try and build things. I am never against anything. I am towards something else. I dont know if this makes sense to whoever is reading this, but that.
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3/ Personal Brand
I’ve been making efforts on building my personal brand. Actually wait. I am not making efforts. Riya is. And Vishal and Naman are. I am merely giving into whatever they tell me. See this video as the first output. This is still a private link that we made as a trial. I have no interest in giving financial advice. Lemme know what you think.
I’ve also started to talk publicly about this on various platforms. And thanks to that, I’ve got inputs from many folks. Each is helping me sharpen it. Let’s see what comes out of it.
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4/ Micro Dramas
I’ve been enamored by it. And everyone I know is talking about it. And I have this feeling of being left out. Super FOMO. Like I have with AI. And with so many more things.
Thing is, a lot of filmmakers I know hate this format (they think money is too less and there is no creativity etc) but I think its an important to embrace it. I think it will democratize storytelling. Like Youtube did. Plus, with all the noise of Tik Tok making a comeback, we will see a million filmmakers come to life – all equipped with simple phone cameras and insane talent. If someone can build a microdrama business, I think they are in for a goldmine.
Of course, I speak as an outsider. Till I had TRS, I was still on the fringes but I am no longer there and thus I know nothing about the business. What do you think?
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5/ AI Film Fest
AK, C and others are working on putting together a film festival for content made with AI. Wow! I am constantly surprised at all the things they do! More details here.
Again, like micro dramas, AI as a concept is being dismissed per se by a lot of filmmakers but I know the time has come. Sooner you adapt to it and accept it, better it is.
Anyhow. Again. I dont want to talk more cos am not a man in the arena. But I do know that if young people think of putting together such festivals, the established filmmakers will have a field day if they embrace AI.
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6/ Coaching
Sandeep Sir mentioned that I must explore coaching as a career option. I don’t think I want to. But he sees something in me that I dont see. And I dont want to dismiss him. Let’s see.
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7/ This tweet from Naval on people
I am embedding it here so that it’s eay to read and all that.
I read this and I was like, o fuck!
I’ve long believed in this idea of having to identify people from afar. And then investing in them and then try to get them to work with me. And I’ve been mildly successful. Now that Naval has spoken, I must accelerate.
Also, thanks to Gokul (founder at CynLr), I understood the term “needle in the haystack” when it comes to talent. This is a very good way to spot talent. In fact, this is how scouts for the sports teams work. Even VCs have scouts that work for them to identify talent.
So that.
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📷 Some Photos from the week gone by
Here are some photos from week 35.
The highlight photo has to be this from Naval…
I saw this and I was like, O FUCK!
Ofc, I’ve spoken about it above.
Lemme know what you think of this.
🈺 The 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 couldnt). And I just added health a few weeks ago.
Book 2 – no action.
Yearly Plan – I dropped it a few weeks ago.
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 think I was better than last week. I ate mindfully. Had a few thing that I shouldn’t have had. But was ok more or less. If I had added workouts, it would have been sweet. I will give myself a 0.
Meru. No large updates in this week. So, a 0.
C4E. No action from my side. 0.
Brand SG. Recorded a few things with Riya. Yet to ship. But I did record and did make a progress. After a few days. So, a 0. And not a -1. Yay!
People. No action on this. I’d say 0.
Book 2. Lol! -1
Shauk. No action. No time. And I am not losing sleep over it. So a 0.
So the overall score is -1.
📊 The tracker from the last week
Here is the tracker for the week gone by.
What trends do you see?
I see…
- Eating a lot of things that I shouldnt be eating. I hope to fix this.
- Lesser spends than I typically do week on week. So, yay!
- Consistency with steps. Yay!
- Need to check on emotions, especially in the second half of the week.
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
This was not good at all. I’ve been lagging behind on this. Must fix it.
2/ Exercise
Walks have been consistent. I do at least 8K each day. I hope to continue with this.
I want to add some workout in this. Yoga is easy but I need someone to help me. Gym, I can’t. I need to find a sport that equals weight lifting (you know, muscle and all).
Also, again, no action. So not counting this as a win. Till I actually do something.
3/ Diet
I track each thing I eat on my food log.
This week was ok.
I had an average of 1800 calories in the week gone by.
As I write this, I have had only two Americano’s since morning. Not even protein shake.
4/ Community
This seems to be doing ok.
I am able to meet new people.
I am ok to build deeper relationships with more people. I am able to sustain interest as well. So all well.
5/ Crowdfunding health
I had said that I want my 1000 true fans to help me get healthy.
This will be a bummer.
I had to be under 90 but I am not losing weight at all. And I wont for the next few days either. So that will suck. I will inform these people and move on.
6/ Movement
No action.
Except walking.
7/ Meditation
I was to have meditated for a few hours this week. But I did not. So that. Will try again this week.
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📖 Interesting Reads / Views from the last week
Here’s a list of interesting things from the last week.
1/ Read this from Naval in the morning and was like a whack on the back of the head. There are so many times I think to myself – the world is unfair, I couldnt do it, I dont have it easy etc etc. But Naval is right. YOU have only YOU to blame if you’re not doing well. Will think a lot about this over the next few days!
2/ The CBO at Atomberg (Arindam Paul) just wrote a new book and its getting rave reviews. I am getting a copy for myself. Could be useful if you are interested in consumer brands, d2c, modern marketing et al. Check it here.
3/ This piece by Yash Garg on founder’s office roles is a gold mine for folks seeking such roles.
4/ Sahil talks about 3 types of friends. Incredible list. Made me think who’s my leaves, branches and the roots. I see myself using this analogy a lot in how I converse.
So yeah. This is it.
🧠 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. I think this will remain ignored for a few more weeks. Let’s see when I get back to this.
🥡 So, one thing that defines the past week?
Routine.
Oh and in the previous weeks, the one-word reviews have been… 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
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.