critic

It is easy to criticize someone, situation or state of our nation. What is difficult is to be empathetic and help. Not everyone is lucky to know things. Most of us are still illiterate.

This holds more especially if you are in people’s business. Everyone watches you, your steps and tries to learn from it. If you will act opinionated, criticize it will affect your brand value. The job requires being less of a thought leader and more of helping others.

Becoming an asshole is easy, thanks to social media. We know how a tweet made people quit their job, with career.

division

Why do we have this division?
Why did the almighty (if he/she, exists) not gave everyone equal opportunity?
Why did he create this division?
What was going on his/her mind?
They created a class, then religion and then money.
On top that they created a society where everyone had to be someone, where everyone had to be a high achiever, where one being rich can dictate over poor even being incorrect.

Attachment

Why do we have to add so much importance to our relationship or things like our pet or house? Are they all permanent?

We enslave ourself in attachment and misery follows. Can we not be rational and see things as they are?

“Freedom is the only worthy goal in life. It is won by disregarding things that lie beyond our control.”
― Epictetus

Younger me

My early 20’s is like a train wreck. I lived mostly like an animal. It had its share of fun, excitement, fear, misery, ignorance, and remorse.

Looking back at it, I wonder how different I would have been now if I had these virtues in my 20’s.

  1. Fearlessness 
  2. Radical self-belief 
  3. Well read
  4. More conscious about health, food, mental and physical well being 
  5. Lived moment to moment
  6. Stayed away from toxic people
  7. Taking criticism more in a positive sense

I was talking to my friend last evening and while talking this thought crept in me. 

pleasure

We crave for pleasure. Going by marketers pleasure comes down to great vacation, food, and partner. 

I take the definition of pleasure from the Greek philosopher Epicurus. My life has gotten much better since then.

Epicurus was a Greek philosopher and founder of the school of philosophy named Epicureanism. Center of his Philosophy revolved around pleasure. 

According to Epicurus: “Pleasure is the beginning and the goal of a happy life”

Epicurus observed that pleasure has a few simple ingredients:

  1. Company of great friends for life.
  2. Freedom to lead a life on our own conditions. 
  3. Conscious thoughts, being aware of self. 

I have written in length about Epicureanism in https://atuljha.com/blog/2018/04/04/we-are-all-epicurus/

help

Connecting with people and asking for help in this world has gotten better. All it requires is email, WhatsApp or Twitter profiles.

The trick is to ask help in the right way. Successful people make the most use of time. If you need their help, keep the mail or communication short to the point.

It is a waste of time and a wasted opportunity if the communication is not simple and crisp. Also, you lose the opportunity to interact in the future.

different

It requires a different kind of mental models to do thing differently in a crowded market. I am still 100 pages through reading Nuts, it talks about Southwest Airlines and its founder Herb Kelleher.

Herb was a lawyer by profession and regular flyer. It occurred to him over a drink, the idea of starting an airline. It was not easy because of the law, monopoly and legal battles. It took them 4 years to go out and launch their 1st flight.

What kept Herb and Southwest going was doing things differently:

  • Best customer service.
  • Cheap flight.
  • Focusing on companies profitability over capturing market size.
  • Treating employees like humans
  • Persistence

Sonal gave a quick 30 mins podcast where Herb Kelleher is sharing his Southwest Airlines journey, worth listening. 

joy

Joy is subjective. It can be achieved by eating ice cream or meeting loved ones. Joy has no checklist or price tag associated.

Have you seen a newborn child playing with their pet, parents with all eyes hooked on to their baby?

Our never-ending expectation and desire to become popular has re-written the definition of joy. It has made difficult to be in the state of joy.