Being stupid. The world is smart. Every one is. And every one is so smart that they think that only they are smart. But being smart can be stupid. Because we get nothing done when we act smart. We ship nothing when we act smart. It’s better to be stupid and
Make it easier. When we shift from the martyr energy to the trickster energy, we find easy and cool ways to get the tough things done. We stop making things precious. We focus more on doing and less on thinking. From playing deep focus music to getting a buddy sit with you while
Slippery slope Listening to Resistance is a slippery slope. Unless we mindfully put constraints in place, we can keep rolling downhill. Very soon, it all starts seeming normal and it takes tremendous effort to restart the uphill journey back to creativity. It’s important to be wary of the voice of resistance
Using Resistance as compass. What’s the one task you are avoiding? When we are busy, it’s mostly because we are avoiding the one task that needs to be done. Everything else looks attractive, tempting and sensible. Resistance puts all its efforts to make you avoid that one task. It takes tremendous effort
Taking a day off. It’s good to take a day off. But it’s not good to do nothing on that day. What is the minimum you can do so that you don’t have to start from zero? Are you too busy to do one push up? Are you too busy to
Strategy and tactics. McDonalds is fast, inexpensive and is based on local franchise. Everything McDonalds done is in line with the strategy. Opening a fine dining restaurant won’t work for McDonalds. When we don’t have a strategy, we are all over the place. We don’t have a basis to take
Do it now. Yes, you can do it later. But will you? What will change later? How will later make things better? And what will it cost you to carry this thing around in your head? It’s better to do it now and move forward than putting it off for later and
When it's not possible to show up... …that is when it is the most important to show up. When it’s been a bad day, a busy day, when it seems as if we don’t have time at all, when we are drowning, it is very important to do the act of generosity, of showing up,
What doesn't make sense. Writing a blog daily doesn’t make sense. Starting a podcast doesn’t make sense. Spending an hour daily for 6 months to write a book doesn’t make sense. As we transition from the industrial era to the modern era, the actions that don’t make sense are the
Going back. There are times in our lives when we figure things out, when we are effective and happy. Over time, resistance creeps up and makes us lose our old hard-earned habits. It makes sense to sometimes go back to what worked. This time, we can go and build those habits again
Less decision making. The less the decision making in something you want to do consistently, the more consistent you’d become. Seth Godin writes a blog daily. He has been doing that for nearly 20 years. The key to doing that is that he doesn’t have to decide daily whether he will
Reply now, not later. There are so many times when we see a post or an email and we want to tell the person something. Instead, we choose to simply click the <3 icon or to put it off for later. But that later never comes. It doesn’t do good to check
No one else knows and no one else cares. Not as much as you. Your project, your book, your work. No one else know or cares about it as much as you do. In the face of self-doubt and fear, it may seem right to seek validation from people around you. But they don’t know much about what
No is good. Nothing is not good. We are all afraid of rejection. We are so afraid that we don’t even ask. We feel that it’s better not to put ourselves on the hook because of the fear that something might go wrong. But that’s precisely the wrong strategy. ‘No’ gives us feedback. It
What's your status? The status game is the one we play with the people around us. The decisions we make depend on what we perceive as our status and what we want our status to be. Some want to fit in, to feel the security of being a part of something bigger than
0.000000014 percent If every one had an equal chance of winning a lottery, then this would be roughly your chance of winning the lottery. And still, most see this as a non-zero number. Your work is too important to be left to luck, to be average, to not be remarkable. Instead of
Do it now. Don’t wait for a better time. Don’t wait for a better state of mind. Just don’t wait for better. Do it now. Later does not make things better. Later takes away the opportunity that is now. — If you liked reading this, consider subscribing. If you are already
Bad Writing. The way to good is through the bad. Bad cooking leads to good cooking. Bad singing leads to good singing. Bad swimming leads to good swimming. No writing does not lead to anything. Choose bad writing over no writing every day. — If you liked reading this, consider subscribing. If you
The challenge of levelling up. Levelling up means letting go of the status quo. Letting go of the comfort zone. The people, the habits, the ideas that we have become comfortable with. Levelling up is not easy. Levelling up is not without cost. Few have the courage to let go of what they have in
A conflict-free life. Conflict-free work. Conflict-free income generation. Conflict-free relationships. Zero conflict. Expectations create conflict. Resistance creates conflict. Be clear. Who’s it for? What’s it for? — If you liked reading this, consider subscribing. If you are already a subscriber, do share with your friends.
Resistance. The goal of Resistance is stop us from doing our work. The work that only we are supposed to do. The work that matters. So, it will keep creating distractions and temptations. It will create emergencies and situations. Everything to stop us from taking action that can help us do
Releasing the stress. Our body and mind knows how to adapt. When put under stress, we get used to the stress and start adapting to it. Our nerves go from our brain to the various parts of our body through the spinal cord. When we are tensed, these nerves become tensed. They do
Sit chilly. Don’t leave your seat. No matter what. Don’t switch the tab. No matter what. Don’t stop typing. No matter what. — If you liked reading this, consider subscribing. If you are already a subscriber, do share with your friends.
Who’s on your investor board? They don’t necessarily need to invest, at least not in terms of money. But they need to take you and your work seriously. I think it’s very important for us as creatives to setup a board of investors (for the want of a better name). And then we
20 pins. If you do deep work for 4 hours a day, 5 days a week, you would make a lot of progress in your goals. Consider a board with 20 neat pins arranged in a stack of 5 x 4. Each pin represents an hour work, uninterrupted. How would you distribute
