SG's Meditations #55 - Mumbai, Working on flights, Personal brands and People and More!
Hola! How's it going?
While I started writing this piece on a flight (UK867) from Bangalore to Mumbai, I am at a Starbucks at Powai as I write this. Oh, here's some random trivia. This place used to be a Crossword book store ages ago and I wrote a large part of #tnks from here! Before I get started, in case you are in Mumbai, let's meet! I am here for a few days.
Coming back to writing in the flights and all that, I LOVE it! I love love love the idea of not having the constraints or distractions posed by the Internet.
Ok, with those pieces of useless information, let's get going!
📸 Photo of the week (and the good thing)
Someone sent this photo. A screengrab from one of the short films that I had co-produced. See this...
The thing with things you create is that it gets a life of their own! And it's a gift that keeps giving! And I need to use this as a prompt to do more, create more and ensure things I create to see the light of the day and get a life of their own!
📱App / Tool of the week
This is my attempt to make this more useful to people in general. If you think you like this, please forward this to 7 people in the next 7 minutes and you would see 7 miracles happen to you in the next 7 days :D
So, the App of the week is How We Feel.
In one line, the app prompts you to check in multiple times a day and slots your emotions in 2x2 made of energy and pleasantness. And once you choose one quadrant, it further gives you nuanced emotions that you are going thru. This app makes me think about the subtle differences in emotions while making me take my mind off whatever I am doing. To me, this is a marriage of Mindfulness + Journalising + Sharing with close ones. I have been using the app for the last few days and I think it's making me a tad better!
Try it. Lemme know what you think. PS: this is only on the Apple ecosystem. I am sure there is an equivalent one for Andoird as well!
And what other such apps would you recommend?
🗣️ Quote of the week
Saw this on Jeetu's WA and my head was BLOWN! I even posted it on Twitter. Here.
It goes, “If youth knew if age could.” - Freud.
Wow!
I mean, WOW!
Saurabh / SG on Twitter: "From whatsapp… https://t.co/0ZLnFvfrIb" / Twitter — twitter.com “From whatsapp…”
Summarised my entire approach to life! I've known that as I grow older, my ability to do reduces considerably. And to tide through this limitation, I have surrounded myself with young people. But the youth around me seems to know better and thus are simply not interested in chasing my ways!
Sigh!
Thing is, if I could somehow get some young people to yearn for the sea and work with me and get things done, we could do a lot more! I will have shipped more things. And in exchange, the youth starts knowing and in due time, they get to then do what they want to!
So that!
If you know any young people that are willing to be a part of my ecosystem, please ask them to reach out.
💭 Thought of the week
Saw this tweet from Naval and as always, with most things he writes, my mind was BLOWN!
See this...
Naval on Twitter: "@balajis Judge a trainer by their physique, judge a marketer by their brand." / Twitter “@balajis Judge a trainer by their physique, judge a marketer by their brand.”
He says, “Judge a trainer by their physique, judge a marketer by their brand.”
Now that's an amazing thought!
As someone that offers marketing and branding services to others for a living, if I dont have a personal brand, I dont think anyone would ever trust me. So, I need to accelerate on this. On making my own brand. And making my company's. Even if I have to invest in it.
Of course, the question is, what is my brand? What do I stand for? I can simply say, Bulla Ki Jaana Main Kuna. Or I can take charge and say that I stand for opportunity and I want to create enough to push as many people to do more. And while I am at it, I want to create movement. Or something like that. Let's see.
In fact, come to think of it, I can offer personal branding services to people. I even wrote about it in detail here. Of course, I will have to teach people that a personal brand does not mean you would have a million followers and all that. Rather it would simply mean that you would have an authentic, distinctive, consistent voice that allows the person to establish their credibility.
So that!
Thought 2
Thanks to the undistracted environment offered by the flight, I had more thoughts and here I am, writing those.
So, I am turning 40 this year. At least for the last 10 years, I have sort of run away from the world around my birthday. I haven't admitted this prior to this but the key reason for my escapades is that I believe that I have not done enough in life and I dont know how to justify my existence over the last year. Essentially, I run away from underachievements and I hide in anonymity.
This year on, I think I will try and face my demons. I will not be an escapist. I will try to not run away. The keyword is "try". I may or may not be able to do so. But I will try.
What have I got to lose anyway? I mean at 40, you are 100% past your useful age. And if you are still taking on loans to run your house, there is something incredibly wrong with how you've lived your life. So, I think I will accept things and move on.
Oh, I also am working on a list of 40 things that I want to do while I am in my 40s. See this. I am up to 21 things I think. I will try and add more. And of all the things that I have added there, I think I am most excited about the ones I've planned with my parents. Let's see how many of these I get to!
Thought 3
So, while I was writing this, I realised that my brain was on fire. So, I MUST find more opportunities to write like that. In seclusion. Away from distractions. And surrounded by others. It's no secret that I derive my energy from people!
Thought 4 - Panna Faadna
I am not sure if I have written about Natthu in the past. He is a friend's father and he talks about his concept of "panna faadna". It translates into tearing off a page.
He says that when he realises that there are people that he no longer wants to interact with (for whatever reason), from his book of life, he tears off the pages that he's got them on.
Now, I have built my entire life on one thing and one thing only - relationships. For me, it maybe counter-productive to tear off pages like that. But I do see merit in this. I mean if I am not gonna engage with a person, why do I want to keep them hanging around my life?
What do you think?
PS: As I write this, I decided to tear off a few pages. See this.
🔀 Random thing of the week
So on Saturday evening, I was dinnering with one of my closet friends, PD. The rare one that I wish goes higher than me. And while I was with him, I was constantly on my phone.
I need to find a way to get out of my addiction to a phone. I dont know what to do. I am not the one that takes slow steps. I want to push and act on the extremes. Like I remember the last time I was made aware of this, I bought a feature phone and made that my primary device. I hated it, TBH but it worked. The only challenge was that I was unable to get things done.
So, I need a solution. Do you know of any hacks? What do you think I can do? HELP!!!
In the end...
And this, ladies and gents brings me to the end of this newsletter. I hope it was a fun read!
Oh, from the next week onward, I am on a sort of a break. I shall resume in the second week of October. Till then, please be good. Do more. Stay hydrated.
And if you enjoyed reading this, please share this with your friends and family and help me expand the reach of my weekly newsletter. It will mean a lot to me :)
Over and out! 👋
- SG / 17 Sep 2022 / Blr to Bom