What we want and what we need to do. Goal: Lose weight [Book reference: The 4-Hour Body by Tim Ferriss] 1. Eat a low-carb diet. 2. Maintain a food log. 3. Workout/walk at least 20 min 3-times a week. 4. Sleep at least 8 hours a day. 5. Drink at least 3 litres of water every day. 6.
Getting back on the road. When we are driving from one city to another, there are many distractions along the way: restaurants, billboards and whatnot. Sometimes, we take a break from the journey and spend some time with these distractions. But we are quite cognizant of the fact that we need to get back on
Action steps, not goals. It's easy to become obsessed with goals: lose x kg weight, earn y amount of money, get a score or rank of z. But that doesn't really help us in reaching the goal, does it? Rather, it creates a kind of vacuum with the present situation
What happens when the amygdala is in charge? I have written about the amygdala earlier. But it's too important to leave it at that. The amygdala is a small almond size part of the brain which is the centre for emotions, particularly fear. Specifically, the amygdala is concerned with 2 things: that you stay alive and
Deadlines The SpaceX spaceship Falcon which took the astronauts to the International Space Station had to be launched at the exact millisecond for the mission to be successful. That's what a deadline is supposed to be like. The launch date. No earlier, no sooner. As creatives, setting deadlines and
Finding the neutral gear. In the hustle culture, especially made popular in the last decade, we are expected to be speeding all the time, pushing ourselves to do just a little bit more. This keeps taking us closer to the last straw that broke the camel's back. Instead, if we invest in
How to handle the never-ending to-do lists? To-do lists can easily seem never-ending and too much to handle. No matter how much we get done, the list never seem to end. This bottomless nature of to-do lists is a big cause of the chronic stress and anxiety we feel on a regular basis. One way to overcome
Buy the ticket first. Many times, we are disappointed with what the universe has offered us. We feel we deserve better. We feel that we have not been lucky. But have we taken action that can lead to what we want? If we are looking for a job, how many potential founders/team leaders
Shipping is the cure. When we don't ship, when we delay, we start feeling the symptoms. A false sense of importance, of making things heavy, of becoming precious starts setting in. The only way out of this conundrum is to identify what we can get done and then focus on making it
Detached from our work? Can we be detached from our work? And if we can be, then is it really our work? Steven Pressfield says that detachment from your work is necessary for becoming a professional. Elizabeth Gilbert says that your book is not your baby. In this case, I'm afraid I
The seemingly impossible challenge. There are sometimes challenges that seem impossible especially when we can't see the path ahead. As creatives and entrepreneurs, these are the kind of challenges that we face more often than not. There is no easy answer to these challenges, no hack that can take away the uncertainty
The magic of done. It's easy to get stuck into the mire of "perfect" or even "good". And somehow later seems to be the time when perfect or good would magically appear. So, we let things stay in the "doing" status rather than getting them "
The last-minute mind! That's where all good intentions go to die. The last minute mind might act out of fear or laziness or just pure evil. We can't trust the last minute mind to take intelligent, long term decisions. It is an instant gratification addict. The key here is
The decision to change. Changing the status quo needs activation energy. It is easy to want change without committing to doing the work that will bring about the change. What is needed to bring about the change is a decision. When we decide to act, without any exceptions, we make change possible. Whether it
Are you busy or productive? It's very rare, almost impossible, that you can be both. Most of the world chooses to be busy in the disguise of being productive. How can you be more productive? The following questions might help: What is the one goal, one project that you are working on? What
Being a contribution. We have the power to contribute, be generous and make things better for others. The more we do that, the more that power increases. Instead, most of us get blocked by our conditioning and focus on what we need (in the short run) and what we can get (in the
Forward motion. What can you do next? What specific action step can you take? Instead of sitting and pondering and trying to decide, can we move somewhere, in any direction? The more we start taking action, the more things will become clear, the more we will be able to move forward. No
Put yourself in it. Whatever it is that you want to do, you are not going to get anything by being on the sidelines. It seems an intelligent approach to prepare and plan and ensure that you don't make mistakes, but it is nothing but just another form of procrastination. When you
Shifting gears. There is a big difference between working on things that life throws at us and initiating something new. The skill to initiate is rare indeed. Most of us have been trained from school to do what we are assigned instead of being an impresario and creating something out of thin
The mindset of possibility. How can we let go of our need for certainty and embrace a mindset of possibility? A mindset where we let new things happen to us, where we create space for new people and new experiences. Our faux need for certainty comes from fear: it comes from past heartbreaks and
Done for the day list. Before we set out for the day and start tackling the things on our minds, it is a good practice to create a "Done for the day list". How is a "Done for the day list" different from the normal to-do lists that we make? Because
What is the one thing that matters? The one that you might be running away from? The one for which you think you still have time? The one which scares the hell out of you? The one that can wait? The one that matters.
The illusion of reality. Reality is dynamic and reality is changed with intent by creatives. That's the main job of a creative, whether it's a founder, a writer or any other pursuit. If a creative isn't changing reality, what exactly is he/she doing? The rational pursuit of
Compounding frequency. The most important factor in compounding is the frequency of compounding. Even with the highest of compounding rates, if the frequency is low, the return would be low. The frequency is what determines the absolute returns of a compounding phenomenon. Skill acquisition is a compounding phenomenon. The skill we want
Books worth reading. To explore your creative side: 1. The Practice by Seth Godin 2. Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert 3. War of Art by Steven Pressfield To earn better: 1. The 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss 2. This is Marketing by Seth Godin 3. The secrets of closing the sale by
