No Resolutions this year, just simple meaningful life rules for 2020 and beyond…
I intend to share my experiences in Startup & VC world, living better lives and how upcoming technologies are reshaping our lives, especially Blockchain & AI
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man - Benjamin Franklin
First of all — I wish you a great year ahead, in fact a great new decade ahead. Below are some thoughts & experiences that I’ve collated at work, by reading books, listening and observing people in 2019 and intend to implement over the next 10 years of my life.
I have spend a lot of time in December pondering how I want to shape this decade for myself and my closed ones. Here are some of those thoughts and these might help you as well in some way in leading a meaningful life
- Kindness, Humility, Gratitude — We live very fast paced lives and often forget to be grateful to people around us for bringing us here. Parents, spouses, kids, colleagues, family, colleagues, and even strangers. Small acts of gratitude go a long way. I intend to be sensitive to others feelings. Gratitude is attitude.
Compliment others more. You’ll barely remember you did it, but the other person may never forget that you did. Kindness has unlimited upside - James Clear
2. Think Long Term. — Preferably in decades. One thing I learned (and wish I had learned earlier), is to think in decades, and not years or months. We live in a very fast paced world where attention spans are diminishing every moment. I intend to plan my life, my work, my health, my relationships long term. Think what I want to be, how I want to be, who and in what state I want to be in 10 years from now. Then work backwards to today.
“Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.” - Bill Gates
3. Compounding Disciplined Habits — We always underestimate the power of compounding. I intend to focus on getting better every single day. Little by little. Save a little, get better at health every day, exercise more, write more, learn more gradually, blog more, podcast more. I intent to do little things but do that in strict discipline. Discipline leads to habits and habits lead to success
“People do not decide their futures, they decide their habits and their habits decide their futures.” - F.M. Alexander
4. Why Worry? — Everyone goes through troughs and peaks of life. During those fearful moments of your life, you should sit down and think to your self if you can do something about it? Below infographic by Sean Combs (P. Daddy) is a powerful one. Simple yet powerful. I intend to worry less and stress no more. That doesn’t mean I won’t do everything in my power to rectify the situation but after a while, I have to let go of things beyond my control. No one at their death bed wished they had worried more or worked more or stressed more. Remember that. It’s just a trap of the mind.
“Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy.’ — Leo Buscaglia”
5. Pause & Reflect -Present is such a hard place these days to be in. This is the disease of abundance that has led to shortest attention spans. Smartphone is the root cause and is not going away. But I am aware off this, so are you. Almost everything needs a reboot. I intend to switch off more often and switch on back again. And mostly that works. Take a pause in life, reflect back at the year, at the good things and the mistakes, plan ahead, listen to music, listen to your kids, I intend to stop being busy, always. Busy is the new Stupid.
“All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” — Blaine Pascal
“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.” — Anne Lamott
6. Wealth Vs Money & Freedom- Naval’s take on this has become somewhat a bible on “How to get Rich”. Must read and listen. He says, Real wealth is not about money. Real wealth is not having to go to meetings before 11 AM, not having to spend time with jerks, not being locked into status games, not feeling like you have to say “yes”, not worrying about others claiming your time and energy. Basically living a FREE life. Genuinely free, where you can do what you really like.
Seek money, not wealth, nor status - Naval
…who is to say whether it is better to defer a dollar of expenditure on your family — on a trip to Disneyland or something that they’ll get enormous enjoyment out of — so that when you are 75, you can have a 30-feet boat instead of a 20-feet boat. There are advantages to spending money on your family when it is young — giving them various forms of enjoyment, education, or whatever it may be. But it’s crazy to be spending 105% of your income. - Warren Buffet
“I think if I can make a bundle of cash before I’m thirty and get out of this racket, I’ll be able to ride my motorcycle across China.” - Charlie Sheen in Wall Street.
7. Surround Myself with Smarter & Real People — This is very important and as I age, I realise that I was most happy when I was growing up with a great social tribe (aka joint family) that got lost somewhere in business of life. I wish I had good mentors in my twenties, just to guide me right vs wrong (Don’t we all?), just to tell me to read more, to do’s and dont’s, to connect me to people and places etc. But it is never too late. Surround yourself with people who have accomplished what you want to. I intend to focus more on real people in my life who connect me not only to my past but also who make me REALLY happy and put a smile on my face, not just pretentious relationships act work and personally. My little social tribe to hang out with.
“In India there’s this concept of the extended family where you basically live with your tribe at all times, so when we were young, at our grandmother’s place with my aunts, my uncles, my cousins, my grandparents, everyone was there, and it was a warm night so we went out to the backyard & put all these comforters & little cots out and everyone would sleep in this giant pile with fifteen people underneath the stars…if someone’s foot was in your face it didn’t bother you. - Naval
8. Make civil the mind and savage the body — Health is Wealth — of body & mind and nothing beats that. I had a major health episode last year. That is when I learned life and the importance of health (unfortunately). Next ten years, I truly want to focus on my body and mind. Run daily, walk daily, weights every alternate day (at least) and some strength training to protect my bones, my heart, muscle mass, as I age.
Nothing compounds as powerfully as health. - LifeMathMoney
9. Pursuit Less, Subtract More, Not Add — Simply ask myself, “What is absolutely necessary?” and eliminate the rest. Cluttered desks, horrendous closet full of clothes that I don’t need, long list of work products that shouldn’t be even there in the first place, bad habits that are easy to quit. I started giving away or getting rid of non-essentials last year and I intend to do more. Subtract things, say NO more often. Disciplined and thoughtful NO. I intend to constantly reduce, focus and simplify my personal and work life. Not just time wasters, but also no to “terrific business opportunities
I am learning in life, addition isn’t always positive and subtraction isn’t always negative - 3.2.1, LifeLoveAndCoconutOil
10. Few More Smaller Habits — that I intend to continuously compound as I grow old 1. Listen more, talk less 2. walk daily 30 mins minimum 3. read daily min 25 pages of any book 4. Write a journal or generally write more (helps thinking more, helps pass more) 5. Set daily priorities, daily list 6. Sleep minimum seven hours daily 7. Less of smartphone (and in turn social media) 8. Remind myself that weekend is for kids & personal reorganisation 8. Smile and laugh more
“And I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, ‘If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.’’ - Kurt Vonnegut
Ikigai & the Art of Enjoying Each Little Moment in Life- There are a lot of misinterpretations of this Ikigai diagram and its origin, but the most beautiful interpretation Ive found is by the author of the book Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life by Héctor García and Francesc Miralles. Meaningful life is not my final destination but making sure that I can enjoy each moment. We keep on waiting until we achieve something. “I will be happy then.” Don’t do that.
You don’t need huge ambition to be very happy, you just need a bunch of friends to drink green tea and talk with. Get rid of the mess and at the core is your ikigai.
- Héctor García
“Though man has decided to domesticate himself, his heart remains wild.
Though he has confined himself to the four walls of a structure, he secretly longs to fly.
Though he tries to cultivate calmness, within him lives a restlessness that does not die.
Whether the Journey is to climb Everest, sail solo around the world, build an empire, or find Enlightenment, it is a surrender of the self. It is a rising of the heart.
The heart longs to beat in this way.
Man was not made to be societal.
Domestication is not in his nature.
It is because he has suffocated his soul that he seeks escape through substances, entertainment, and travel.
Societal man, no matter how successful he has become, yearns to Live. And somewhere within him he knows that a part of him hasn’t lived in years.
Somewhere within him he knows that the brick and mortar society in which he lives is a cemetery.
He longs for discovery.
He longs for exploration.
He longs for expeditions into the mysterious void.
He longs for the bliss of distant shores.
And he would happily surrender his life thirty years before he was due, if he could Intensely Live for twenty of them True”
- Kapil Gupta
Stay happy, stay healthy. 2020 and beyond.
Share the Love, Have a Great Week Ahead!
