#SoGv2 -01 - Hello, World!
Hello,World! (#SoGv2 - 01)
Lemme start this one with the track that I am listening to as I write this. It's called Without Me and it's by this gentleman called Marshall. You know, Marshall Bruce Mathers III?
In this track, there is this part where he says...
[Quote]
Guess who's back, back again
Shady's back, tell a friend
Guess who's back, guess who's back?
Guess who's back, guess who's back?
Guess who's back, guess who's back?
Guess who's back?
[Unquote]
Can you guess why I started this letter with this?
Did you guess what is back?
Ok, this does not make sense.
Lemme cut the chase and just say that I am back with SoG series.
In a shiny, new avatar.
And with tons of changes that will hopefully make these letters better than before.
So, what started as a challenge, a whim, became one of the most enriching, rewarding and hardest things I've ever done in 36 years of my life. Writing one letter every day (well, almost) over the last 6 months has been a revelation at so many levels. I don't know if I made you guys tangibly better, but the letters did make a sea of difference to me. Most importantly, I learnt that I know so little and I am so ignorant. I learnt to appreciate inputs from friends, family and strangers. And the letters gave me the opportunity to connect with so many people. And make so many new friends!
And all of it has happened because I had you guys as my audience. And thank you for your attention.
Thank you.
Sincerely.
Each of you.
For giving me the permission to email you.
I hope to continue to offer great things for you to invest your time on.
And with that, say hello to SoG v2.0.
v2 because this is the second avatar of SoG. While the intent remains the same (see more, learn more, grow taller by standing on the shoulders of giants), I am going to make some changes in how these work; the most important and evident change is that I will split these letters into three parts. And you will have an option of subscribing to one or more of these.
These parts are...
1. #1KWAD.
1000 words every day. On average. Promise. Unless its a life or death situation. Or I am travelling (which I am not for the next 15 days at least).
In these 1000 words that I write and send every day, I will share what I think, what I am working on, what am I spending time on, what piece of music did I listen to during the day and other things like that. Think of this like a daily blog. Like a stream of unedited thoughts. That I feel like sharing. These could be as mundane as what I ate in the day (which I am hoping won't be much) and could be as important as the new person that I met in the day (which I am hoping will be a lot). Or could be an update about projects that I am working on. Or about things that I am failing at. Anything goes. A blog, like I said. Most of these pieces would ideally find a home on my personal blog.
2. #5onFriday. Weekend read.
I will send this every Friday evening. One email per week. Will be a compendium of the best of what I saw, what I read, what I recommend et al during the week gone by. This will have stuff from all the disciplines that I am interested in. So, expect sports, poker, crypto, travel, fashion, films, writing, events, branding, Apple, entrepreneurship, philosophy, futurism, investing, wisdom, longevity and a million other things. No, no cricket. And no politics. Well, maybe. You never know. I mean did you see the match between Pakistan and West Indies? It seemed to me that they were playing really well and yet they seemed lost, like Sidhu said, like a child in the topless bar!
3. #SoGv2. Thrice a week.
So SoG was an attempt to learn from people who are smarter than I. I call these people giants and like someone said, "if I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulder of giants". I wanted to stand on the shoulders of these numerous giants and get better. I would read about one giant and one idea and try to distil the lessons and present those in an easy to digest email.
And honestly, more than your consumption, I was keen on checking my ability to take a complex topic and understand it and break it to bare bones. And then, maybe, apply it in life!
I think I was successful a lot of times. And I am sure I failed more times than I was successful. But in toto, I learnt a lot. And if I were to believe the emails I got from some of you, you guys did too!
#SoGv2 is a new riff on SoG and the intent to learn, grow, contribute remains the same. Each letter tagged #SoGv2 will try and present my take on an idea that I think we must know of.
That's it!
And what does this mean for you?
Two things.
A. The number of emails per week that "add value" to you will go down from 7 to 3. The other 4 emails will keep you in contact with me but will most probably not add anything to you. And I do understand that you may not want to read the "blogs" and thus I am taking the liberty of moving all SoG subscribers to #SoGv2. So no blogs for you. Unless you indicate your choice to get the #1KWAD from me and explicitly ask me to be added to that list, you will get just 3 emails from me in the week. You can, of course, unsubscribe at any time you like.
B. Like I said things that add value to you will go down from 7 to 3. The ones on Tuesday and Thursday would be what SoG initially was - things that'll help us become smarter and better and allow to see further. The one on Friday will be a #5onFriday post (see 2).
***
That's about it. Onward to the v2. I am super excited about this. Hope I better myself.
Reminds me of the thing for the day. How can I send you an email without it adding value to your time? It is Dr Jordon Peterson's 12 Rules for Life - a book that I have found immensely beneficial. One of his 12 rules is "compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today." You know, often we compare ourselves to our friends, classmates, relatives etc and cry about how dumb they were and yet how well they're doing now! That is BS! Rather, you ought to compare yourself to what you were yesterday (or a year ago, or 10 years ago). We are on individual journeys are the two are not
So, the intent is to be better than what I was 6 months ago and not look at others that are at different 'life stage' compared to me. For you, the thing for the day is to stop comparing yourself to others and look at how you could better yourself. Think about it.
Over and out for the time being.
Oh, one more thing. Please tell me you missed these letters. And me. Please ;)
Thank you for your time!
With gratitude,
@saurabh
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TAGS: Introduction, Announcements, Eminem, Pop Culture, Dr. Jordon Peterson.
STREAK: 1
HELP ME
Please do tell me what you would want me to write about. Its been so long that I am rusty and unless I have inspiration, I will not be able to add value! Plus each piece that you recommend helps me learn a tad more.
You know that couplet that I am a fan of? Here...
Help me go to bed a tad wiser :)
WORK WITH ME!
I am looking for someone to work with me. I can't afford to pay a lot but I can promise that if you are willing to work hard, I WILL DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO TAKE YOU CLOSER TO YOUR #LIFEGOAL. I mean it. If you are interested, read this and lemme know if you are in.
And, in the end, in case you have some extra lying around, I am at 1ABmUxhpbaXpBDrxtkpH8zFMBWSLCbK3sr.