A drowning person can't be generous... Whether we are actually drowning or if we are telling ourselves a story that we are drowning, we lose our capability to be generous, to be of value to others. Playing the victim card creates incapacity. It is impossible to be creative with a victim mindset. If you are drowning,
Clarity. Clarity in one sphere leads to clarity in the others. Clarity comes from pausing, connecting and then doing again. The more we act in momentum and are disconnected to our self, the less are the chances of gaining clarity. — If you liked reading this, consider subscribing. If you are already
Pause. It makes sense to break the momentum by taking a pause. When we pause, we breathe, we can connect and start again. Whether we are talking, or thinking, or writing, pausing every now and then is a habit worth trying out. — If you liked reading this, consider subscribing. If you
We are our idiosyncrasies. What is different about you? What is weird about you? What are you finicky about? What will you fight for? We find ourselves at the edges. When we say we like movies, we are trying to be safe, to be average, to fit in. But when we obsess over “Fight
Investing in yourself. We sure know how to invest in others. Our time, energy, attention, money. Trying to make others happy. We also know how to spend on ourselves. Eating out, drinks, clothes, whatnot. But what about investing in yourself. What about taking care of yourself? What about you? Do you take action
Which voice are you listening to? The one which is propelling you forward, or the one which is holding you back? The voice of trust or the voice of doubt? The more you listen to the serpent voice, the voice of reason, the voice which explains why you shouldn’t take action, the more your life
Just keep typing. It’s okay. It doesn’t have to make sense. Not to you. Not now. All you have to do is to keep typing. Keep taking it out of your system. Don’t analyse, don’t judge. Just keep typing. — If you liked reading this, consider subscribing. If you are
Social beings We are social beings. Even when we are in isolation, we are working on something for someone else. All our joys, our emotions, our experiences come through other people. We can take the people around us, those who enrol in the journey, on a better path. We can’t worry
Done for the day list. Before beginning your work, it makes sense to make a clear ordered “done for the day” list. It is important that each task on the list is “done-able”. If you make a task like “Finalise website”, it is not possible to get done. Instead, you can be more specific and
What's it for? Apple hasn’t changed its logo since inception. Seth Godin’s blog format is the same for 20 years. Each episode of Seinfeld is 20 minutes. We tend to make our projects complicated and unpredictable. By putting constraints, we can add predictability to our creative process. Although each Seinfeld episode
The miracle of technology. When our Zoom meeting hangs up or even slow down, we feel irritated and exasperated. When our flight is delayed by an hour, we become angry with the staff. When our browser is not able to hold our 129th tab, we start cursing. We humans tend to make miracles mundane
Physical activity over psychological. You can either think or type. You can either analyse or do. You can either discuss or take action. The more we move from psychological activity towards physical activity, the better our life becomes. No one ever succeeded by thinking. It’s only by taking action that we succeed. — If
Ignore the negativity. Whether it is coming from within you or from your family or friends or from anywhere in general, when you engage with the negativity it sinks you in, it makes you feel miserable, it takes you away from the work. The world is full of mediocrity. Mediocrity seeks perfectionism, if
What can you do? Most of the things in the world don’t make sense. Most of them are not justified, not empathetic. It is frustrating to see the wrong in the world and it is tempting to focus on how things and people are wrong. But that does not change the world, that
Doing more thinking less. There are times when we get entangled in thinking, in planning, in trying to sort things out inside our mind. The more we do this, the deeper the mess we get into. We get stuck in the spider’s web of its own making. It is extremely tough to break
One more thing. Can you help one more person? Can you write one more word, one more sentence? Can you publish one more book? Launch one more product? Focus on the next. Forget what came before. Forget what will come after. Do one more thing. — If you liked reading this, consider subscribing. If
Boredom is the friend. Boredom leads to creativity. We get away from our boredom by creating something out of it. — If you liked reading this, consider subscribing. If you are already a subscriber, do share with your friends.
How can you serve? What is the work that matters to you? What is the work for which you can cross seas? What is the work that only you can do? That is the work that matters. It’s high time you seek that work. — If you liked reading this, consider subscribing. If you
Ready-made solutions. Throughout our lives, we have been given ready-made solutions. Pick one: science, arts, commerce? Pick one: engineering or doctor? Don’t even pick, just do an MBA. Ready-made solutions seem objective and easy to swallow. But they hide the short term pain of dealing with ambiguity and in exchange give
Sustenance and creativity. These are different things. We can’t expect our creativity to sustain us, we need to sustain ourselves for our creativity. Income generation needs to be looked at as an engineering problem needing to be solved. It is very different from the creative process. It’s important to separate the
Resistance is mediocrity. Mediocrity is all around us. In the industry, in education, in politics, in religion, in news. Mediocrity is the lowest common denominator. And mediocrity is like a black hole. Once you give into it, there’s no coming out. It sucks you in. And once you give in, then it
Life is short. Book that flight. Ask that girl out. Write that book. There is never going to be a time like now. Risk is the likelihood of the irreversible negative outcome. Tim Ferriss
From Martyr to Trickster The martyr is a sucker for rules. It uses random excuses to not do the work, to not show up. The trickster is full of tricks. Not only for the world outside but for its own brain. It lightens the mood, it reduces the stakes, it moves forward. The martyr
Mediocrity Why are we so comfortable with being mediocre? With not showing up? With our life not meaning up to anything? That we just come on this planet, survive and then die. Why be a human then? Be a cow, no? — If you liked reading this, consider subscribing. If you are
Prostitution The society does not look well on the women (and men) who sell (or rather, rent) their bodies to someone else for money. But what about the soul? What about your work? What about your life? Why is it okay to rent your soul in exchange for money? To not
