Tag: habits

Doing boring things is a super power

Over the last year, I’ve lost weight, regained control of my health, and transformed from fat to fit. My secret? Two simple actions: eating well and jogging. Both are monotonous, but they work.

Every alternate day at 6:30 AM, I’d put on my shoes and jog for an hour. No exceptions. There was no glamour or complexity to this routine; I simply ran as slow as I could for six kilometers three days a week. Simplicity is the key to my success.

Eating well was also mundane. Idili or Dosa for breakfast; two rotis for lunch; two slices of bread and an omelette for dinner. Avoid aerated drinks, drink at least 8 glasses of water, and eat less than you spend. You should go to bed hungry. Success is simple.

Boring techniques apply to other things too – investing or building apps.

Invest in index funds or strong performers instead of complicated financial products that promise big returns. As you invest in your mutual or index fund, you’ll watch the market work its magic. This boring formula has been working for me for more than two decades. I’m not smart enough to understand complicated financial products. This simple formula has worked wonders for me. Just last year, this formula got me 47% more profits.

How about building digital products? To build products, I pick boring technologies and architectures. It’s not the fancy new technology everyone’s drooling over. I want my team to spend the weekends with their families, not fighting a technology bug nobody has solved before. Businesses should spend their money and effort capturing the market, not battling technology.

When we keep things simple, we don’t get sucked into troubles that we could’ve avoided. True success comes from repeating mundane tasks consistently. Find a “boring” task that will propel you toward your goals, and do it wholeheartedly. By doing so, you’ll unlock the power of consistency.

You’ll do more exciting things if you keep things boring.

January 2, 2024

I’m not reading books this year

This year, I’m not reading books. Rather I’m focusing on ideas.

Books can be a good way to improve yourself, and it can be enlightening to engage with the thoughts of great minds. But, this pursuit can become empty when reduced to mere statistics – reading a book a year or 100 books a year. Instead, I’d like to focus on one idea and explore it deeply.

Pick an idea, implement it, and let it grow on you; examine it from every angle so that you understand it better.

Here are 12 ideas that have transformed my life; pick one or all.

  1. When you figure out your calling, everything else falls into place. Many people wander aimlessly, copying others’ dreams. Find your true calling, and chase it relentlessly with courage. The moment you figure out what you’re here for, you can silence the world and live your life to the fullest. You might find your calling by writing your obituary.
  2. Nurture your soul – it’s where all growth comes from. As a Christian, daily Bible reading, prayer, and church involvement nourish me. Your external progress is directly proportional to how much you grow on the inside. Without a solid foundation inside, all your growth is just a sham.
  3. Make memories – happiness blooms from them. Don’t chase fleeting pleasures; instead, create lasting memories. We don’t find happiness in solitary pleasures like movies or cricket matches – they’re fleeting. Create lasting happiness by making memories with others. Get your friends together and enjoy hiking, jogging, or helping the underprivileged. All these things will increase your happiness.
  4. Think probabilistic, because life is rarely precise. Precision matters sometimes – during surgery, landing a plane, or connecting calls – but most of our day-to-day lives are based on probabilities. Learn to decide based on probabilities and weighing the odds of various outcomes.
  5. The quality of your life depends on how many uncomfortable conversations you’re willing to have. Many of us face tough situations with a fight or flight attitude. Whether it’s confronting a bully boss, negotiating a raise, or soothing an angry partner, we don’t know how to deal with it. Either we avoid or we argue. Learn to deal with these situations with confidence and peace.
  6. Build skills that generate and exploit options. Develop a daily system for honing your abilities, focusing on skills that open up multiple possibilities. Then figure out how to take advantage of them. You’ll go from strength to strength as you grow and take advantage of these opportunities.
  7. Embrace the mindset of “I am okay, you are okay.” Many of us struggle with feelings of inferiority-I come from a village, I can’t speak English, and I don’t look as handsome as someone else. All of us have inferiority complexes, but the first thing you need to know is that you’re okay. You’re perfect as you are. Self-esteem and confidence soar when you embrace who you are. Remember, others are okay too. Embrace their flaws and respect them. You’ll be able to deal with life better this way.
  8. “Cloud or dirt”. Don’t be afraid to dream big, but also roll up your sleeves. Some people only think big but can’t execute, while others work tactically and let someone else call the shots. Develop both your 10x thinking and skills to bring those dreams to life.
  9. Don’t listen to people who don’t have skin in the game. Most people give advice without any experience or investment in what they’re talking about. Seek out people who will benefit from their ideas or suffer if those ideas fail. You’ll flourish if you surround yourself with these people.
  10. Create intentional leverage points in your life. Like Archimedes, give me a lever, and I’ll move the world. When you find your leverage, your life will transform, grow, and flourish. It’s not just about money; it’s about every aspect of life. So, carve out your own leverage points. You can take it a step further and aim for permissionless leverage. You can put your creativity out there and gain leverage without anyone’s approval by writing, podcasting, or creating visuals.
  11. Luck is the other side of risk. We often focus on risk – taking out insurance or having risk departments in companies – but not enough on luck. It’s just the flip side of risk. Think about how you can cultivate luck in your life and expand your luck surface.
  12. Build a flywheel in your life. This concept comes from Amazon’s shareholder letters – improving one component leads to improving the next. It’s tough to get started, but once it’s going, it spins faster and faster, bringing you more leverage and luck. I’ve crafted a flywheel for my life: Wealth, Insights, Network, and Self-Control. When I enhance my wealth, I gain more insights; when I gather more insights, I connect with better people and opportunities. I’ve nurtured this WINS flywheel for four or five years, and my life has changed for the better.

Feel free to adopt any of the above ideas, or even choose a different one. Live it, breathe it, absorb all its knowledge, and act on it. You’ll have a great life.

Wishing you a magical year.

December 31, 2023

My fat-to-fit journey after 50

As I turned 50 this year, I embarked on a fat-to-fit journey. With 86 kilos, I was obese for my height and age. A combination of diet and exercise got me healthier.

First, I set an eating window between 9:30 am and 7 pm. I drank only water from 7 pm to 9:30 am the next day. A glass of milk is my go-to if I’m hungry. I ate like I always do during my eating window. Eating until you’re 80% full is a good rule of thumb. My breakfast was usually idli or dosa or pongal, or oats. Lunch was rice or chapatis, while dinner was usually bread and omelets. Along with avoiding aerated drinks, I also replaced sweets with natural sources like dates to reduce my sugar intake. While I tried to curb my snacking, I occasionally indulged in treats like murukkus. On Fridays, I skip lunch and eat early dinner around 5:30-6 pm.

Getting fit started with 30 minutes of jumping jacks and skipping at home. After a while, I switched to walking and then jogging for six kilometers. Eventually, I jogged three times a week at an average pace of around nine minutes per kilometer for a total of six kilometers. Whenever I wasn’t jogging, I did at-home workouts.

Thankfully, these efforts paid off. I dropped from 86 kilos to 77.4 kilos. I used to wear jeans with a 36-inch waist, but now I fit into a size 32.

As a result, my fitness routine has become an essential part of my day. Even when I’m traveling, I pack my sneakers and hit the gym, run, or at least walk. I’m hoping to keep that streak going.

December 27, 2023

Chasing Borrowed Goals

Most of our goals are borrowed goals, which explains why we don’t achieve them. We covet what others possess and desire it for ourselves: a fit body with chiseled abs like our favorite actor, a luxurious BMW like our colleague’s, or a spacious three-bedroom house like our boss’s. Our purchases – from clothes to amenities – are driven not by necessity but by a desire to emulate others.

It’s in our nature to mimic. When we’re little, we imitate our parents and siblings, and when we’re in school, we mirror the popular kid. Nature and nurture have conditioned us to mimic others’ behaviors and desires.

There are three problems with these borrowed goals:
• they hook us onto a hedonic treadmill
• they don’t motivate us into action
• they leave us disappointed

These borrowed goals get us hooked on a hedonic treadmill – an endless cycle of chasing satisfaction that never materializes. When I began working, I commuted by public bus and longed for a bike to bring me happiness. Once I acquired one, the joy lasted only six months before I yearned for a car to escape the rain and heat. After obtaining my car, I soon coveted bigger and better vehicles like my colleagues’. It’s the same in other areas.

We go from renting to buying homes, always looking for more space as we compare ourselves to others. Then, when we finally move into our spacious apartment, our coworkers move into villas, and we dream about buying one. Although we achieve our earlier wishes, our dreams and desires evolve and we are always on a treadmill, running but never arriving at what we want.

Secondly, these borrowed ambitions don’t inspire action. Instagram pictures of our friend’s trip might inspire us to visit Thailand, Prague, or the Arctic Circle, but once we realize the overheads of planning, saving, and traveling, we give up. We want to arrive without taking a step.

We all want a fit body. However, we’re reluctant to exercise and eat healthy. As we delay or drop doing those things, we invent excuses.

Because these borrowed goals aren’t tailored to our contexts, they don’t motivate us. We just fantasize about them without doing anything. We don’t achieve these goals because they aren’t ours; they belong to someone else.

As a result, these borrowed goals lead to disappointment and perpetual discontent. Either we don’t achieve them or we keep upgrading our ambitions without ever feeling satisfied. Our lives become marred by disappointment when we keep borrowing goals that weren’t meant for us.

We often get stuck in a cycle of setting loftier goals, then falling short and giving up. We’re stuck in this unending cycle of dissatisfaction, which keeps us from moving forward. Our sense of failure paralyzes us, making it hard for us to move forward and reach new milestones.

December 26, 2023

Living a fulfilled life

how to live a fulfilled life

The key to a great life is to love yourself, love others, and love transcendence.

If you don’t love yourself, you’ll never do anything worthwhile since you’ll always think you’re worth nothing.

If you don’t love and respect others, you won’t partner with them. It’s impossible to do everything on your own. In this journey, you need others.

You’ll have a purpose in life if you have a sense of transcendence. It’ll keep you going when it’s cold and hard.

You’ll be unstoppable if you combine all three. The journey will be fun too.

December 25, 2023