tanha

Tanha he to hai hum, dhund rahe hai apne parchai auroo me. Diya salai, kaagaj kalam aur suee dhagee ke mafik jor rahe hai khud ko auroo se.

Kya hum ayee nahi the akele is jahan me? Kya humne aasiyaana banane ka socha nahi tha khud ke liye?

Apne aap se ji nahi sakte kya hum, kyun nikal jate hai khud ki talash me? Kya milta hai miyushee aur tiraskaar ke awala?

Tanha kaise ho sakte hai hum jab humne khud me jeena seekh liya. Yae parchaii hamare he to hai, kyun jana hame auroo ki talaash me? Kya khud me khud ke saath nahi ji sakete hai? Apne akelepaan ko apne manmarzi ka zariya kyun nahi bana lete hai hum?

Manish came up with updated version with more rhyme in it.

Tanha hee to hum sab Dhoondh rahein hain apne ko, auron main Kisi dhaage say jodne ki koshish kar rahe hain.

Kya hum akele na aaye thhe jahan mein Kyun aashiyana banane lage jahan mein Kyun na jee sakte hum akele, tanha Kyun nikal jaate hain kisi ki talaash mein.

Wohee mayusi aur tiraskar ki talaash mein Kyun na jee sakte hum akele Apni parchai kay saath Kyun dhoondhein kisi aur ko Jab hum jee sakte hain akele – tanha

passion paradox

The evangelists of the startup world sermonized passion like a drug. Pick a blog, book, or podcast: passion trumps over everything. You have to be passionate about the idea, team, and what not build a successful startup.

A few years back, starting my own, I read Scott Adams’s post on the goal VS system. He stressed focussing on building system. The byproduct will be a success. I laughed at reading it and felt like Scott has gone nuts. We have to be passionate and have a goal when it comes to our startup, team, product, and everything.

What happens when your idea fails, the team leaves or the product you have been passionate about never takes off? How will you handle these?

My limited learning resonates with Scott Adam’s now. We should keep passion, goals, and profession separately. We will suffer less, and failures will not break us apart.

emotions

The past few weeks have been a little hard on me. It threw me into the self-introspection mode. The more I questioned myself, the I sulked deeper into emotions.

I spent time reading about emotions from science to philosophy. The summary was simple: it is manifest of our mind. How we see an incident and how we react to it.

Emotions are the byproduct of our ego, attachment, and perception. The meaning changes with the lens you are looking at it.

Bhagwad Gita talks about: Attachments are the cause of human misery.
Epictetus said: There are things in our control and things not in our control. Dwelling on things that are not in our control will make us miserable.
Murakami says: Pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional.

Many professional coaches say to be more rational in business. It makes me wonder how can a human life in this dual state where he/she has to buckatize their actions?

If in a business, we have to be more rational and less emotional, then why not automate that part too? Is singularity even achievable?

Lifespan

In Lifespan, David Sinclair writes about how we are going to live much longer. He also points getting old is a disease, and we can live much longer.

In the initial chapter, he cites how we started dying less at an early age because of advancements in medicine and science. With time and our sedentary lifestyle, we are getting sick from a heart attack, Diabetes, and other failures.

In later chapters, he mentions the newer research and experiments on the mouse and how they are living longer. He gave stress on metformin and resveratrol. He also cites how his father, based in Australia in his 80’s lived like a 60-year-old, trekked consuming these drugs.

I remember reading a section where he also mentions how we are making our planet worst by cutting trees, the plastic, and how we will witness more pandemics in the year to come.

The part I resonated with most was about intermittent fasting, restricted dieting, and regular physical exercise. The importance of eating leafy vegetables, fermented food. He advised avoiding non-vegetarian food. I am not sure about the importance of hot and cold baths.

Let’s build a startup

Let’s build a startup book talks about Harpreet S Grover’s journey in building CoCubes. I could relate myself more to it because I grew up in a middle-class family in a small town in India. 

These are some notes I took away from the book:

  1. Parents: Indian parents are paranoid about starting a startup. Some dislike their kids starting one and many others seeing their kids working at a startup. I don’t blame them. They want their kids’ life better and stable.  
  2. Work-life balance: Running a startup is like running a ship in uncharted territory and, unexpected misadventures are part of it. If you are married, the wife is an equal stakeholder. The author mentions meeting family and wives/husbands in some instances in recruiting his team members.
  3. Co-founders: In the early days of a startup, you are married to the idea as well as the co-founder. You spend most of your time with them, so pick them well. 
  4. Burn slow: Don’t waste money on decorating the office or making the canteen a retro/designer look.
  5. People: Focus diligently on company culture. That could make or break your startup. Hire slow, fire fast. Give regular feedback, get feedback. People leave, wish them luck, and help them whatever way you could. 
  6. Customers: Only money that matters is money coming into account from customers. Spend more time with your customers and get their feedback. They will help you grow as a product and customers.
  7. Focus: Don’t spread too thin and build everything. Build one thing and focus on executing it well.
  8. Leadership: The founder’s time is precious. Focus on hiring the r leadership team and give them freedom and independence to run the show. Have faith in them. 
  9. Coach: A founder’s journey is lonely, and others are part of it as a sports club. Having a coach helps in bringing clarity and picking blindspots.  
  10. Have some fun: Get to know your team, go on trekking and have some fun. A hot, burning environment will hamper progress in the growth of the team and an organization. 

emotions

There is some part of emotions always associated with entrepreneurship. It could be with an idea, team, or journey. I have been talking to a lot of friends, and everyone agrees to it.

The experienced funders suggest being more rational and less emotional. We are dealing with humans, and there will be differences with co-founders, teams, customers, investors, and emotions will only affect adversely.

Building a startup should be like running a sports team: everyone knows what their defined role is and how their performance elevate or deprecate the team. That is what Reed Hasting’s analogy. I reluctantly agree with his view now.

parting

I have realized people dwell on everything they disliked about you or the organization. The hate, anger, or non-likeness will take over everything else. It seems like no parting has ever been mutually amicable.

Does it mean our dreams or journey has to be of our own all alone?

jina seekh liziye

Aise he hai zindgi, jina seekh liziye.
Kitne aaye, kitne gaye, riste bane, sapne saze aur zindgi chalti gaye.

Sabne kaha aise ziyo, kuch ne kaha waise ziyo, baaki kuch saath rahe hamere. Chal rahe thee saath kuch pal tak aur phir kinare me ho liye juda, zindgi phir bhi chalti rahi.

Apne, paraye, zulm, sitam, ruswai, siskiyaa sabko mila liziye phir bhi kam par zaiyge ye zindgi. Aise taise, taas ke patto zaise simte hue hai ye zindgi.

Zaise bhi hai ye zindgi, jina seekh liziye.