Category: Everything else

Systems kick in slowly..

This is with reference to 2 things actually – 1) The cleanliness at my new (shared) home and 2) Weekend book learnings

In the case of 1), I’ve seen that systems kick in gradually. It is very tempting to clean all things at once (initially, I was aghast at the mess that resulted in a house where 4 (on weekdays) and 8 (on weekends) live.. haha.

But gradually, over the weeks, one newer thing gets added to the cleaning list and over the past week, the house has become a home (in the cleanliness sense as well).

In the case of 2), I started sending out an email every weekend to close family and friends with book learnings from a book that I’d read. This was a random, badly written email that was meant to be an incentive for me to read and share learnings. Over time, it has changed to a nice and polished email with a story from one of the books I read over the course of the week.

When I look at the email in its current state, I’m amazed at how far it’s come.

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If I had to summarize this post in a couple of lines.

It’s important to have a sense of where we are going (example: Best book learning mail in the world, uber clean house etc)

And ‘Some things just take time, 9 women can’t make a baby in a month!’

All sunshine makes a desert..

I read this on Vikram’s blog and I found it very insightful.

I’m reading a book titled ‘4 hour work week’ where (self) acclaimed author Tim Ferris talks about living the ideal life – working 4 hours and spending the rest of the time skiing, snorkelling, holidaying – you get the picture.

Rather than be enthralled by it, I find myself repulsed by it. For one, his point of view is entirely based on the premise that we exist to enjoy every moment and only seek to do enough to earn enough to fund our enjoyment. I feel we can do better than that..

Anyway, my point is that – even if work is tough, impossible at times – the tougher the work-week, the better the weekend. Joy wouldn’t be good if it wasn’t for pain after all (as a close friend from school would rap)..

And I see why all sunshine makes a desert.. I guess life’s best lived when there’s balance.

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On the 4 hour work-week book, I’m still reading it as it does have a lot of great tips on how to get more productive and save time, but yes, I am definitely against the central idea!

Would you like it done to you..

Of late, I’ve been trying to put many of my intended reactions to a lot of things said about me in perspective by asking – ‘Would you like it done to you?’

I was tempted to give feedback to a friend one morning and when I asked myself, I realized it was not the place and time.

I wasn’t at my best when listening to a friend and when I asked myself this, I realized I should have changed the environment or done something different to make it better.

Funnily enough, the biggest place where I find myself applying this is in emails – I realize that whenever I receive emails that address me as ‘Rohan‘ instead of a ‘Hi‘ or ‘Dear‘ preceding it, I feel ordered.. And I realized that while it is a tempting way to start writing emails – why do so when I would be uncomfortable being addressed that way?

The theory is the same as the ‘Golden Rule‘ that says ‘Treat others as you would like to be treated‘ – that is true, but while I’ve known the theory, I’m only slowly beginning to execute on it.. and I guess it is very important to celebrate small wins. :)

Who is your crisis counsellor..

This is a question I asked myself.

I realize there are while there might be many friends and loved ones, there are only a few I would turn to if I had a big emergency.

For example, let’s picture I desperately needed a million bucks for a few days for some weird disaster – who would I ask? (assuming everyone I knew had a million..)

I found I had a list of a few close loved ones whom I would not be ashamed to ask and who I felt wouldn’t say no.

What was amazing to me was that I was in close touch with everyone except the top person (and hence, the most reliable). I knew I could count on this person but never really made the effort to stay in close touch.

That was a big learning. This was the person I needed to stay closest in touch! And I thought it was a powerful exercise – to think of my crisis counsellor..

Avoiding momentum – Seth Godin

Some days, even the best dentist doesn’t feel like being a dentist.
And a lifeguard might not feel like being a lifeguard.

Fortunately, they have appointments, commitments and jobs. They have to show up. They have to start doing the work. And most of the time, this jump start is sufficient to get them over the hump, and then they go back to being in the zone and doing their best work.

Momentum is incredibly useful to someone who has to overcome fear, dig in deep and ship. Momentum gives you a reason to overcome your fear and do your art, because there are outside forces and obligations that keep you moving. Without them, you’d probably stumble and fall.

And yet…

And yet many of us fear too much momentum. We look at a project launch or a job or another new commitment as something that might get out of control. It’s one thing to be a folk singer playing to a hundred people a night in a coffeehouse, but what if the momentum builds and you become a star? A rock star? With an entourage and appearances and higher than high expectations for your next work. That’s a lot of momentum, no?

Deep down, this potential for an overwhelming response alerts the lizard brain and we hold back. We’re afraid of being part of something that feels like it might be too big for us.

Hint: it probably isn’t.

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Brilliant.. absolutely brilliant!