Upstream or downstream? Would you prefer swimming upstream or downstream? That’s a trick question. The answer would be it doesn’t matter. What matters is where I want to reach. If you destination is upstream, it doesn’t matter that that is a trickier path. — If you liked reading this, consider subscribing.
What about the opposite? The opposite of what you believe in strongly. Can you see how someone else can believe in the opposite? Can you empathise with them? No right, no wrong. But if you were in their shoes, would you believe what you do? Or would you believe in the opposite? Empathy is
One step at a time. Albert Bandura, one of the leading psychologists in the world today, has created a pedagogy called Guided Mastery which leads to Self-Efficacy. David Kelley talks about this in his book ‘Creative Confidence’. The key here is that fear goes away by taking one step at a time. The physical can
Recalibrating the compass When we are not in the zone, it might make sense to slow things down. To identify what needs to be done for us to feel okay again, to get back our zone again. Once we recalibrate our compass, we can press the accelerator again. There’s no point speeding
finding trust again. Trust comes from doing the work. It comes from putting ourselves on the hook. From being stupid and stubborn. Keep doing the work. Keep shipping. Keep making the work better and better. Yes, Steve Jobs made the iPhone with care about the details. But he shipped. Without the AppStore, without
The work we do and the people we love. That’s what matters.. the work we do and the people we love. The work we do is about the change we seek to make. And the people we love make it all worth it. This is what makes life beautiful. — If you liked reading this, consider subscribing. If you
Does it live up to your standards? Steve Jobs ensured that each and every detail on the iPhone was what he wanted. So did Elon Musk with the Tesla Model S. It takes a lot of effort to make things simple, to design them well. Do you care to make things better for the people who care?
Design changes. It’s easy to blame ourselves for not changing our habits or our actions. If we are empathetic to ourselves, we would understand that our habits would not change unless me make some design changes. If you want to drink more water, keep a bottle full of water within your
The boy who lived. Harry Potter became famous as the boy who lived, not the boy who survived. I think the emphasis by Rowling is not on the fact that Harry survived Voldemort’s curse, but that he lived, that he smiled and loved and enjoyed life. Unlike Voldemort, whose sole aim was to
Treat ideas like milk. The brain is not a good place to store ideas. It doesn’t act like a freezer, rather it is a warm and humid place. An idea kept for too long in the brain starts to spoil. It’s a good habit to take these ideas out on paper or
go offline. Turn off the wifi. Switch off the phone. For an hour in the morning. Or preferably more. Don’t turn anything on until you have done the important work. Your writing. Your project. Spend at least an hour on it without any external stimuli, without any distraction. Do that for
Getting started again. Getting started is difficult. It takes all this effort to overcome the threshold energy to do the thing for the first time. There is tremendous Resistance. Everything is new. Everything feels threatening. But if we keep going we do reach the point where we have started. Getting started again is
Stop seeking permission All our lives, we have been trained to seek permission at every step. From going to the washroom during the class, to writing poetry, to speaking up, we have been trained to ask the ‘authority’. The so-called ‘authority’ has been misusing this power for decades now. The Universities are charging
Getting up and running. It’s not easy to do. This requires changing the status quo. This requires taking action that elicits tremendous Resistance. The thing is, once it’s live, it becomes a different beast in its own right. Then you have to kill it instead of making it live. Thus, it is
Bad Writing Hour Yes, it’s difficult to write good stuff for an hour every day. But what about the bad stuff. Can we do that for an hour every day? Can we start at the same time to make it consistent? Because if we write daily, we make space for the good
The modern career. We are moving from the industrial era careers to the creative era careers and 2020 may very well be a pivoting point in the transition. The industrial era was about the capitalist and the organisation. It was about efficiency and accuracy. It wanted labour that could follow directions. The individual
Making space for yourself. We get pulled in all directions, all the time. Parents, relatives, friends, teachers… and now Instagram, WhatsApp, Netflix and whatnot. There is never enough time, energy and attention if we think that we will save some after engaging with others. What we need to do is to make time for
Running on auto-pilot. We can become used to running on auto-pilot. Letting the last-minute mind taking decisions, directing our life. We hope for results but rarely put in the efforts to get the result. To stop listening to the voice, we would need to get off auto-pilot and take control back. To navigate
Take the power away from the last minute mind. Write down. Everything. Every damn thing. Don’t let the last minute mind decide. Don’t let the voice inside your head seize control. When we write, we freeze our thoughts, which allows us to see them and then to review them objectively. If we write and review, we will
The voice inside our head. Or rather, the voices inside our head. The voice of Resistance, as Pressfield calls it. The chatter, the self-doubt, the one that makes us procrastinate and then makes us feel guilty for procrastinating, the one that makes us hide, to the point of our detriment. The voice that doesn’t
The world has changed. The old rules. Do they apply now? There have always been professionals in every field. But they have been made to seek permission at every step of the way. People who did not know anything about their art decided whether they deserve to be heard. Steve Jobs was ‘fired’ from
What doesn't get lost in translation? Before we ask ‘Who’s it for?’, it might make sense to look at ‘Who we are?’ It’s not just the country or city that you were born in or live in, or the school or university you attended or the company that you work for. They matter. But
The traditional career and the modern career. What’s the difference between a traditional career and a modern career? In both, other humans pay us money to get some work done. In the first, mostly those humans are hiding behind organanisations and they are not hiring another human, they are hiring a resource. The whole mechanism is
The only thing that matters is you. What do you want? What do you believe? What do you care about? You are at the centre of it. You as the creator. And becoming aware of yourself, your idiosyncrasies, your uniqueness becomes extremely important. Yes, the audience matters. Yes, it’s important to ask “Who’s it for?
How can I be of help? One question that can change us from selfishness to generosity. One question that can put us in charge. One question that can make the voice of Resistance and self-doubt become silent. — If you liked reading this, consider subscribing. If you are already a subscriber, do share with your friends.
