magic

Carol S. Dweck, author of Mindset has given intellectuals a whistle. I had my share last night, I heard Growth Mindset over a dozen times on a call.

Mindset
Growth: Work hard, learn new things, and grow.
Fixed: Don’t work hard, stay as you are, and lose the competition.

Malcolm Gladwell wrote Outliers on the research paper of K. Anders Ericsson. It takes 1000 hours of hard work to master anything.

Angela Duckworth in her book Grit talks on the similar lines. If you want something: don’t give up and work hard.

Angela Duckworth, Malcolm Gladwell, and Carol S. Dweck are talking about the same thing. All 3 of them are psychologists and made millions selling their books.

The good old wisdom of Charlie Munger talks about Incentives. I feel without incentive, which can be internal or external reading these books won’t help. Hence focus on your incentive first and magic will happen in your life.

hedge

I am not saying leave your current job and switch to better pastures. I am definitely saying hedge and take chances.

Dislike relationship, move one.
Dislike job, switch.

Just don’t crib and sulk in your miseries. In the end, it is your short life, you are the master of your destiny. Also no one gives FUCK about you in the universe. Own it, hedge some bet. Crying, burning in anger will shorten your life.

world

When we stop caring about the world for appreciation, liking, salutations, and love that is when we are free. Once we are free we are living in our dreamland carefree as a child working on self-creation.

Creativity requires complete freedom but the world we are living in, we are a slave to externality. We all like being loved, appreciated, and recognized. We end up creating for what others will like instead of being self.

We end up living in multiple selves. It creates confusion, stress, and makes us vulnerable.

In the end, you are all alone, everyone has got their own problems. Build a world of your own.

On Softbank

I know Covid19 has had the biggest impact on a shared economy. Companies like Uber, WeWork, OYO are struggling to stay afloat. Layoff stories are everyday things now.

Matayoshi Son, the visionary behind Softbank fund is in the midst of all these crises. His vision fund 1 had to right off many investments. Venture Capital investments model works on binary return, either you get it all or go bonkers. It does not guarantee home runs on all investments.

Son’s vision is with OYO, Uber, or WeWork has been changing the entire market dynamics. Son has bet high on the sharing economy and a big believer of singularity. No one is left unhurt from the result of covid19, some are suffering more.

Sitting on the other side of the fence and giving an expert opinion or writing boom/bust piece for page hits is very easy. What is difficult is building, believing, and taking huge bets.

Lastly, chances are the phone with which you are writing your angry tweets would be running ARM, backed by Softbank.

core

Why do we get distracted and move away from the core? Many organization tries to expand and enter into non-core and lose their focus. The one thing which defines them gets a blow.

Is it a growth mindset or greed? The quest for expansion is a double-edged sword. When it backfires, your existence comes crumbling.

We are living an era of creative destruction, moats are short-lived. Most innovation should be on doubling down the one thing which differentiates to rest.

outside

Why do we crave recognition from outside?
Why should other’s judgment matter? Is it not our life?
Why are we living it on someone else’s terms and conditions?

How can you love or be committed to something or someone when from inside you are broken and defeated?

We miss others without taking a cue from ourselves. So much time we spend on externals that we are getting sick within. We are living a life defined by others.

permanent

Nothing is permanent: relationship, possessions, or achievement. Time flies and waits for no one. Every generation has its idols, taste & way of leading life. Yet we live in the world with century-old laws, education system, and superstitions.

The only thing which one has to live is now, not past or future. Our past is behind us, the future is unpredictable. Now is what we have with us. What is the point of gloating over our past or shouting about future plans? Why can’t we live now and make most of our life?

success

Success has many friends. Starting their Europe trip, press and everyone called them a bluff.

After their successful fly in France, everything changed overnight.

Excerpts from book Wright Brothers.

When you become successful, everyone tries to associate with you. They all want to be part of the glory.

Smart people know who to bank on a part of their journey and especially owes success to those who were there rooting for them in tough times.

self love

Why do we feel not accomplished with what we have in our life?
Why do we have to be such a self-critique?
Why do we have to see and complain about our failures?
Why can’t be celebrating our little success, feel blessed with what we have in our life?

When we are our self-critique, everything we do will make us feel like shit. We will end up being very hard on ourselves and lose the joy of living, our journey of learning. Who has not done mistakes in their life?

How are we going to be loved by others when we hate ourselves so much?