Saurabh Mithal

Writer, Teacher, Career Coach, Mentor. Work website: passionatelycurious.in I write a daily blog at https://blog.passionatelycurious.in

The decision.

The decision is not to become a writer or not. The decision is whether you will write today or not. We can act today, we cannot act some day. Some day is a fictional time where all dreams and ambitions go to die. The only question that remains: Why not

The forces that hold us back...

…self-doubt, procrastination and rationalisation. The worst of these is rationalisation. To begin with, it seems more innocent compared to the first two. It helps us sleep at night, when we did not do our work. We find a way to make peace with that fact. Repeat it enough times though

Creativity and self-doubt...

…go hand in hand. The creative is seldom a good judge of the quality of her creation. And it is not part of their job either. The most creative people I know struggle with self-doubt on a consistent basis. They key to countering the self-doubt is to separate the creation

The perfect blog entry.

Does not exist. Talking about publishing a blog is easy. Publishing it is difficult. When you publish, you change the status quo. It does not matter what you write, as long as you keep publishing. Don’t ship perfect. Ship daily.

The challenge of levelling up

In order to level up, you need to let go of the current level. You need to let go of something that has started to define you, the situations and the problems, and the solutions to those problems. In order to level up, you get ready to face new problems

Putting yourself out there.

It’s scary to put ourself out there. The world is not kind. The anonymity given by the internet has made it even more cruel. They are not called trolls for no reason. It takes courage to create and to share. It’s not for everyone. But for those who

We mistake comfort for happiness...

Comfort rarely brings happiness. Rather, we can say that it never brings happiness. Happiness comes from exercising our faculties, mental, physical, social, spiritual. When we do that, we get a glimpse of happiness. The more we do that, the happier we become. Resistance, the voice inside our heads, keeps prioritising

I don't feel like it...

…But I will still ship it today. For a working creative, this has to be the mantra. If we wait for the time when we feel like it, our career will be left to luck. As a professional, it is our duty to create and ship on a schedule and

Don't follow your passion.

Two of the worst career advices ever given: ‘Just find a job’ and ‘Follow your passion’. Both are lazy advices given by lazy people for other lazy people. The first one, which most of the world seems to be following, is to become a mediocre cog in a mediocre system,

Did you come first in the class?

The question in the title was asked of me over and over again. The problem with the question is that there can only be one student who is first in the class. Moreover, it is not really a question of excellence. You can be first in the class by being

Who do you report to?

I never liked the word ‘boss’ or ‘manager’. I have never liked having a manager over me. But if I want that, then I need to be my own boss. I need to be my own manager. When your boss gives you a task, do you say, ‘You know what,

Stop asking for permission.

There is a scene in the movie Haider (Vishal Bharadwaj’s adaptation of Hamlet) where a Kashmiri resident would just stand outside his house’s gate and not enter. Roohdar (Irrfan’s character) comes and explains that he is seeking permission to enter his own house. Irrfan does a security

Changing our identity.

“I want to start something of my own.” “I want to lose weight.” “I want to get a better job.” These statements reinforce the notion that we are not this person. We have not started anything. We have not lost weight. We are not getting a better job. There is

Do incentives help or harm?

Is it easier to do a diet when you are highly motivated? When you really, really want those abs? Is it easier to find a better job when you are really, really hating your current one? The question is: Would you still be this motivated in a couple of weeks?

Making exceptions

Exceptions are the enemy. The day that we do not work out because we didn’t feel like it. The day we did not study because there was no exam the next day. Exceptions don’t end with one day. Once you make an exception, you get off the ride.

Streaks.

That’s how anything gets done. You start with something one day. You repeat it the next. And after a few days, not repeating becomes more difficult than repeating. Mise-en-place happens. Everything is where it should be. The threshold energy reduces. There is much less uncertainty and the process and

The illusion of certainty.

Is there anything which is certain? You may say yes. You may say that since I have a job, it is certain that I will get my salary at the end of the month. We call this job-security (a word I dislike intensely). You may say that since I am

But, where's the parachute?

When we do a favour for a friend, somewhere in our mind, we are expecting them to do something about it. Maybe just even acknowledge it. But we want something in return. This is the natural human tendency and this tendency is what the economic system is based on. To

How to be miserable?

Take a task or an idea. Make it extremely important. Don’t put a deadline to it. Now your mind will take care of making you miserable. You’d think of this and you’d think of that. Scenario 1: What if I did this? Scenario 2: What if I

Procrastination, self-doubt and all other demons...

A riff on the voice(s) inside our heads. We all have at least one voice inside our heads. Is that voice us? Do we control what thoughts or ideas it generates? Is it our friend or enemy? Before I read ‘War of Art’ by Steven Pressfield, I did not

Uncomfortable conversations.

What would a 5 year old do when she sees another kid with a new toy? Would they just sit there and think how weird it would be to ask this kid if they can play with their toy? Somehow, this tendency of just asking what we want goes away

What do you think?

What do you think? Is this idea good? Should I pursue it? That’s a lazy question. That’s a search for an excuse for not taking action. That’s seeking validation or reassurance. As Seth Godin says, Reassurance is futile. You can never get enough of it. A better

1% better

There is always a possibility of making things 1% better. No matter how bad or how good the things are, we always have the option of making them 1% better or 1% worse. That’s the decision that we face. Everyday. Every moment. Every decision has 2 actions: Do the

Starting from scratch.

‘What will this lead to?’ is a question that ends more journeys than it starts. We become obsessed with the outcome. The best answer to this question is ‘Let’s find out’.

Money - A game we have to play!

There are games we want to play and then there are games that we have to play. One of the games that we have to play is the game of money. We may play that game in different manners. Some may play the traditional way and some may be more