Tag: habits

Two types of writing

You can write to express or impress.

Writing to express yourself means journaling and taking notes. Writing this way sharpens your mind, enhances your communication skills, and helps you grow. In contrast, when you write for others, like authors, content writers, or screenwriters do, you want to educate, entertain, or empower them.

You can keep your writing private or share it with the world, like I did here. There are countless platforms where you can share your thoughts, like Medium, LinkedIn, or Twitter. Even if you’re not a professional writer, I’d encourage you to write for yourself. It’s a great way to improve your thinking and communication.

“Man becomes what he thinks.” The clearer your thoughts become, the better you’ll be at everything – from seeing the world to interacting. Writing is the foundation of success. You should write and express yourself as a way to think. It’s up to you if you publish your work or not.

There’s an endless well of ideas when you write to express yourself. But when you’re writing for others, especially to impress them, writer’s block and anxiety can creep in. Because I’m writing for me, I don’t worry about what people will think. Sure, I read comments and engage with readers, but my main goal is to improve myself.

I’ve found this approach to be incredibly helpful in my own life. Go ahead, pick up that pen or open that laptop and start writing!

January 16, 2024

Dictation as a Warm-Up

Whenever I sit down to work, be it writing or coding, I face a wall of resistance. I’ll distract myself with videos, trivia, or Twitter. But all I need is a gentle push, like little stretching before a run.

Dictation is my warm-up. It lets me capture ideas while walking or whenever inspiration hits. Once I sit at my computer, I can polish the draft by reading, editing, or swapping words. This simple act gets me moving, like taking that first step of a walk.

Soon enough, I’m in the flow, adding flavor with metaphors and tidying up the text. As they say, you can fix a bad page but not a blank one. And when words already fill my screen, it’s so much easier to dive in and continue writing.

If you face challenge of writer’s block, may be try dictating your thoughts. Break the resistance. Get a page filled with rough draft. Then rest will take care of itself.

January 15, 2024

Corruption: India’s Silent Language

We have democratized and normalized bribery in India.

In India, bribery has become ubiquitous, crossing regions, religions, castes, and genders. It’s a language everyone speaks, whether you’re a Dalit, a businessman, a South Indian, a North Indian, a man, a woman, or a student. Bribery isn’t just effective, it’s expected.

You have to bribe to get a driving license, register a house, get a police verification for your passport. My friend told me that when his father passed away in sleep, the local authority demanded bribes to issue a death certificate. Either we’ve become numb to it or we’ve accepted it as inevitable.

As a society we have accepted this as a fact to the point that we even suggest, “Why not give something so things move faster?”

Is there a way out of this?

Citizens are mostly powerless. We can protest and demand change, if we are allowed to protest at all. Although we can push back, we can’t always refuse to bribe outright because we risk denied essential services. In India, bribes often facilitate action – unlike in some countries where bribes are paid to prevent action.

In order for real change to happen, those in power need to make a difference and punish wrongdoers. Until then, I’m afraid the corruption will fester.

Over the past 30 years, I’ve listened to people talk about a corruption-free India. Still, nothing’s changed; it’s only gotten worse. It used to be that government jobs paid little, but that’s no longer true. While they don’t match market rates, these jobs pay decently now. Still, greed and the belief that one can get away with corruption drive people to do it.

There won’t be any change unless those in power take the lead.

January 14, 2024

JFM-2024 Goals

I don’t have annual goals. I plan only for a quarter – 12 weeks. You can visualize 12 weeks easily and control most of the parameters too.

For the past four years, I’ve been using WINS — Wealth, Insights, Networking, and Self, for setting my goals.

Here goes my JFM 2024 goals.

Wealth

Insights (learn by doing)

  • Continue this daily commonlog posting
  • Focus on the theme of “Being a Dad; Being a CXO” for the podcast

Networking

  • Start meeting people offline
  • Can you record podcast interviews offline?
  • Don’t hesitate to ping interesting people on LinkedIn

Self

  • Restart jogging (may be after cold winter gets little better – after Jan 20th?)
  • Continue the streak of moving at least for 30 min (so far I’m at 125 continuous days)
  • Homeschooling
    • Josh
      • graduate out of grade 2 of Trinity exam
      • prepare for NIOS 10th exam
      • complete Personal MBA book
    • Jerry
      • complete draft of the book
      • complete Personal MBA book

January 11, 2024

Snowball, not slot-machines

 

Over the past years, I’ve been crafting my personal flywheel, a wheel of interconnected components. With each improvement, the wheel spins faster, gaining momentum. My flywheel consists of wealth, insights, network, and self-control – WINS.

We all have different starting points; some with more money, some with more knowledge, and others with a vast network. When you have wealth, you can access better courses, buy books others can’t afford, and attend exclusive workshops. These experiences provide insights that connect you to more people and opportunities, increasing your wealth. But this flywheel needs an axle: self-control. Without it, the wheel spins out of control and crashes.

As I pondered my focus for 2024, I stumbled upon an article by Justin Jackson. Though it’s about marketing, I found a personal catchphrase: “Snowball not slot machines.”

A snowball starts small but grows larger as it rolls, gaining mass and momentum. Slot machines are one-off events that give fleeting satisfaction but no lasting success.

In 2024, I’m focusing on building snowballs rather than chasing the momentary thrill of slot machines.

What are the examples of slot-machines?

  • getting lost in watching random YouTube videos
  • drifting aimlessly through Twitter
  • playing video games mindlessly

These activities give you a quick hit of dopamine, a fleeting sense of pleasure and satisfaction. But they don’t help you in the long run. They don’t build momentum or give you any lasting advantage.

Now picture snowballing assets, starting small and growing larger over time.

Take writing on LinkedIn as an example. You craft a great post and share it with the world. As the days pass, it catches more eyes and gains momentum, providing leverage and benefits. The same goes for meeting people and building a network. It begins with little significance but grows into something valuable with time.

Consider investing in a mutual fund. You can start small, but over time, dividends accumulate and can be reinvested, creating a snowball effect.

In each area of your life, you can build these snowballs.

As I look toward 2024, I’m going to focus more on snowballs than slot machines. I’ll try to curb my phone usage and aimless scrolling through YouTube videos – I know I can’t stop completely, but I’ll strive to control these fleeting desires. Instead, I’ll work on growing my snowballs to see where they lead me.

What are you focusing in 2024?

January 4, 2024